Ayala, teams up with A. Brown, Rebisco group on Iloilo power project

MANILA, Philippines – The Ayala conglomerate has formed a triumvirate with A. Brown Group and industrialist Jacinto Ng to build a P12.5-billion coal-fired power plant in Iloilo, a project which seeks to ease the power supply bottlenecks in Panay and the Visayas grids by 2016.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Ayala Corp. said  it had finalized and executed through its subsidiary AC Energy Holdings Inc., a shareholders agreement with the A. Brown Group and Jin Navitas Resource Inc. for Palm Concepcion Power Corp., which is currently undertaking the establishment of a 135-megawatt circulating fluidized bed thermal coal-fired power plant in Iloilo.

Ayala will be the single biggest stockholder of the project with a 40 percent stake while A. Brown and Jin Navitas will get 30 percent each.

A. Brown, through subsidiary Thermal Consolidated Holdings Inc., was the original proponent of the project.  After earlier bringing in Ayala onboard the project, the final shareholders agreement includes a third investor, Jin Navitas which is led by industrialist Ng who also controls Asia United Bank and biscuit manufacturer Rebisco Group.

The disclosure said the shareholders’ agreement among the three likewise confirms the terms and conditions by which PCPC will be owned, managed and controlled and by which the development and operations of its power generation project will be implemented.

The three-way partnership also plans to build a second 135-MW power plant for future development.

A. Brown, for its part, has done all the preliminary work and investments over the past two years. The engineering plans are ready, and important regulatory approvals have been secured.

For its part, the Ayala group has been aggressively beefing up its power-generation portfolio with plans to embark on $2.5 billion worth of power projects and build a portfolio of about 1,000 megawatts over the next five years, through partnerships with more experienced power players.

Ng, on the other hand, is breaking into the power generation business for the first time.

Biz Buzz earlier reported that with the prospective partnership with Ayala and A. Brown, the cash-awash Ng hopes to learn the ropes of the power-generation business that he can scale up in the future to add to his biscuit manufacturing, banking and property businesses.