Sale of Malaya Thermal, land needs OK from PCC

By Lenie Lectura – August 23, 2019
from Business Mirror

THE sale of the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya Thermal Power Plant (Malaya TPP) and its underlying land would have to be cleared by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said.

“The subject privatization activity will fall under acquisitions as defined under Republic Act 10667 otherwise known as the Philippine Competition Act, its implementing rules and regulations, as well as relevant PCC issuances,” PSALM’s Supplemental Bid Bulletin No. 10 stated.

PSALM and the winning bidder must “observe and abide by the PCC’s guidelines, particularly on the Compulsory Notification or Non-Coverage Requirement, whichever is applicable.”

The same bid bulletin extends the deadline of bid submission to September 18 from September 12.

PSALM said the extension is necessary in order to accommodate the mandatory review of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) on all of PSALM’s privatization documents, including the asset purchase agreement (APA).

“We need to secure clearance from OGCC for all agreements to be entered into by PSALM. In the case of Malaya, we will need to enter into an asset purchase agreement with the bidder. Thus, PSALM is now coordinating with OGCC to secure clearance on the provisions of the said APA. Once that is done, we can proceed with the bidding,” explained PSALM President Irene Joy Garcia.

PSALM has rescheduled the auction for the power asset many times citing the need to come up with a basis for a base price, which would have to be determined by third-party consultant PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).

A number of power firms have expressed interest to buy the power plant. PSALM had previously said there were four qualified bidders, namely AC Energy Inc., DM Wenceslao and Associates Inc., DMCI Power Corp., and FGen Reliable Energy Holdings Inc.