Antitrust body clears Lopez group power plant buy

MANILA, Philippines  -The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) on Tuesday said it had cleared a Lopez-led company’s acquisition of the 165-megawatt (MW) Casecnan hydroelectric power plant in Nueva Ecija.

This would allow state-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to finally turn over the facility to Fresh River Lakes Corp. (FRLC), a subsidiary of First Gen Corp.

In a statement, the PCC said the clearance was issued on Jan. 25 to FRLC, which won a competitive bidding for the run-of-river hydro power plant held in May last year.

FRLC bested other bidders with its $526-million offer, with rivals offering $258 million to $298.9 million.

READ: First Gen taps P20-B loan for Casecnan hydro power project

A group of stock market investors had raised the alarm over FRLC’s relatively large offer, saying that the company needed to justify the amount that would be spent for the acquisition.

‘Growth projects’

Late last year, First Gen said it was set to get a fresh P20-billion loan from BDO Unibank Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands for “growth projects,” particularly its acquisition of the Casecnan plant.

First Gen chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno had said that the amount needed for the acquisition would come entirely from domestic funding.

READ: First Gen doubles capex budget after Casecnan hydro win

Puno also noted that they were ready to pay for the bid price, adding that they “need to make sure we can prove that our investment in Casecnan is feasible.”

Casecnan is a main source of irrigation for farmers in Nueva Ecija, and supplies energy to the power-hungry Luzon grid.

The facility is expected to augment supply from the Pantabangan-Masiway hydro plant, which is running at reduced capacity due to low water levels. —MEG J. ADONIS

INQ