PSALM still has P294-B sale proceeds to collect
By Myrna M. Velasco – June 28, 2020, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) still has whopping P293.543 billion worth of power assets’ privatization proceeds to collect, according to company data.
The remaining collections out of earnings from the divestments of the National Power Corporation (NPC) assets amount to P212.837 billion from the privatized supply contracts of the independent power producers (IPPs), and P80.706 billion from the 25-year concession deal for the power transmission assets.
PSALM said the remaining proceeds to be fetched from concessionaire National Grid Corporation of the Philippines would be exclusive of foregone interests from the latter’s advance payment of P58.883 billion in 2013.
The government-run firm indicated the privatization of the NPC assets generated proceeds reaching P911.84 billion as of end-December 2019. Of the total, P602.03 billion had already been collected.
“Total collections as of December 2019, including interest income on placements, were exclusively utilized for the liquidation of financial obligations amounting to P648.40 billion,” the company said.
PSALM’s corporate life will be until June 2026 – and that will be the remaining stretch for it to pull in all the proceeds raised from the divestment of the government-owned power assets.
Uncollected revenues after that timeframe shall be handed over to the national government with the imprimatur of the Department of Finance.
On the accrued financial takings from privatization, PSALM emphasized that the bulk of it at P388.99 billion had been funneled to regular debt service while P65.84 billion had been earmarked for debt prepayments.
For the company’s lease obligations under its build-operate-transfer (BOT) deals for the contracted capacities of the IPPs, payments summed up to P193.57 billion.
The company added it allocated P5.01 billion for other privatization-related expenses; while P50 million had been appropriated for the operating expenses of government-run National Transmission Corporation.
The guiding rate of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that PSALM employed on its settlement of financial obligations had been P50.744 versus the US dollar.
As culled from PSALM data, 68-percent of its debts are denominated in US dollar or about P286.978 billion equivalent as of end-2019; while 25.2-percent or P106.465 billion are peso-denominated. The balance of 6.8-percent or P28.567 billion are in Japanese yen.
