SMC Global Power lists P30-B bonds with PDEx

By Lenie Lectura – April 25, 2019
from Business Mirror

SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMCGP) on Wednesday listed with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange (PDEx) Corp. P30 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds, representing the first tranche of P60-billion shelf-registered retail bonds and the company’s fourth local bond issuance.

“The funds provided by these bonds come at an opportune time as our country faces the daunting challenge of ensuring that adequate and affordable supply of power is available to meet our constantly growing demand.

“SMC Global Power stands ready to take on these challenges, and pursue a business model and an expansion strategy, all within a culture of excellence and innovation, that not only supports the government’s national and regional energy policies and needs, but also unequivocally show that there are better ways of conducting day-to-day business operations in a socially and environmentally responsible manner,” SMCGP General Manager Elenita Go said.

Go said proceeds will be utilized to finance the power firm’s expansion projects. “We have many expansion projects. It’s hard to tell at this point what these expansion projects are.”

SMCGP is now one of the largest power companies in the Philippines with a diversified portfolio utilizing a mix of coal, natural gas and hydroelectric power plants. Its total capacity is 2,903 megawatts (MW) representing 22 percent of the Luzon grid and 17 percent of the national grid.

SMCGP is the independent power producer administrator (Ippa) for the Sual, Ilijan and San Roque power plants. Moreover, it operates the 218-MW Angat hydroelectric power plant in Bulacan; the 450-MW greenfield power plant in Limay, Bataan; the 300-MW greenfield power plant in Malita, Davao Occidental; and the 684-MW Masinloc power-generating facility in Masinloc, Zambales.

Two units of SMC Consolidated Power Corp.’s Limay coal facility went offline the other day due to the Luzon earthquake. Both units, with a combined 300-MW capacity, are expected to be synchronized with the grid this weekend.

“We were able to help in the supply requirements of the grid. However, we just had a problem because of the earthquake,” she said, adding that SMCGP is not colluding with other power companies.

“We are fully contracted. We are not in collusion. We are competing in prices,” Go said.

PDS group President Theresa B. Ravalo welcomed the power firm’s listing. “We are delighted to note that since its debut three years ago, San Miguel Global Power has issued and listed their securities every year. And this year, with an oversubscribed issuance, it is a testament to the SMCGP corporate name that it is able to tap the market in a sizeable amount amid competition from large issues of financial institutions.”

The frequent return to the market by an issuer is a metric of that issuer’s sustained relationship with its investors, Ravalo noted.