San Miguel power biz to bid for Masinloc plant ownership

By  Lenie Lectura –
September 25, 2017

from Business Mirror

THE power business of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) may bid for the controlling stake of AES Corp. in the 600-megawatt (MW) coal-power plant in Masinloc, Zambales.

“Yes, we are interested,” said SMC President Ramon S. Ang when asked if he was interested in the power asset.

Ang also said the conglomerate prefers not to partner with other firms: “Just us.”

The US electricity giant is selling its entire 51-percent interest in the power facility it bought from the Philippine government for $930 million in 2008. The sale of the two 300 MW units is expected to happen before the year ends.

Aside from SMC, there are two more power firms that have expressed keen interest. These are Aboitiz Power Corp. and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

According to AboitizPower President Antonio Moraza, there are 15 to 20 foreign and local firms interested to bid for the power asset of AES Corp. in the Philippines. His company, Aboitiz said, is one of them.

“There are about 20, I think. We are interested. As long as…[if there are] power projects in the Philippines that [are] for sale, we will look [into these],” Moraza said. “The interest is very wide; foreign, local—wide. I understand there is more than 15.”

Meralco President Oscar Reyes had said that: “We’ll be interested to look at it.”

The utility firm is also engaged in power generation via its unit, Meralco PowerGen Corp.

In 2014 AES Corp. sold its 41-percent stake in the Masinloc project to Thailand’s Electricity Generating Pcl. for $453 million. The World Bank’s International Finance Corp. owns the remaining 8 percent.