Meralco to enter into power supply deals with 3 firms

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, has been given the green light by its board of directors to enter into power supply agreements with three power generation firms.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Meralco said it was granted authority to forge agreements with San Miguel Corp.’s power unit, South Premiere Power Corp.; Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd., the local unit of US-based power giant AES Corp.; and Sem-Calaca Power Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Semirara Mining Corp.

South Premiere Power is currently engaged in the generation and administration of the energy output of the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas, while Masinloc Power operates the 600-MW coal facility in Zambales.

Sem-Calaca similarly operates a 600-MW coal fired power plant in Calaca, Batangas.

No other details were provided by the distribution utility regarding the proposed power supply agreements.

In the same disclosure, the power utility also said that its board had authorized the management to “negotiate a financing facility with one or more financial institutions.” It did not, however, disclose the amount it planned to raise and the timetable for the fund-raising activity.

Meralco officials were unavailable for comment as of Thursday afternoon.

In June this year, Meralco senior vice president and chief finance officer Betty C. Siy-Yap had said that the company was planning to raise some P9 billion to pay for the 30-percent equity portion of a proposed 300-megawatt coal fired power plant to be constructed in Subic.

Later that same month, Meralco was able to sign P5-billion fixed notes with a group of primary institutional lenders.

On another development, the Meralco board of directors had also approved the company’s plan to divest its investment in Rockwell Land Corp., through the “declaration of all Meralco’s shares in Rockwell as property dividends and subsequent listing by way of introduction” or listing at the local bourse without an immediate initial public offering.

Rockwell Land, one of the premier real estate development companies in the country, was formed by the Lopez Group in 1995, following the shutdown of the thermal power plant. The old site—a 15.5-hectare property in Makati City—was developed into a high-end commercial business district now known as the Rockwell Center.