GBP buys 50% of Alsons unit

Global Business Power Corp., an energy producer led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp., acquired  a 50-percent stake in the coal holding unit of Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc.

Alsons, the publicly-listed company of the Alcantara Group and a long-time Mindanao investor, signed an agreement with GBP, a leading power producer in the Visayas. The agreement gives GBP a 50-percent stake in Alsons Thermal Energy Corp., the holding company for Alson’s baseload coal-fired power plant assets. The two parties did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.

“The new partnership with Alsons presents a significant milestone for us, through GBP, to enter the fast-growing and dynamic Mindanao market given Alsons’ proven, long-standing and successful track record in owning and operating power plants in Mindanao,” Metro Pacific and Global Business  Power chairman Manuel Pangilinan said in a statement over the weekend.

He said the  strategic acquisition was in line with Metro Pacific’s commitment to further bolster infrastructure investments in all parts of the Philippines.

“We look forward to a fruitful partnership that combines GBP’s technical competencies and strengths in the Visayas with ACR’s long years of experience in Mindanao as the island’s first independent power producer,” Alsons chairman and president Tomas Alcantara said.

“We believe that this partnership will greatly benefit power consumers particularly in light of the planned interconnection of the Mindanao and Visayas grids which we strongly support. We are sure that this alliance with GBP and MPIC will make us a more formidable enterprise, more competitive and more resilient in meeting the challenges of the present and those that are yet to come,” Alcantara said.

Pangilinan earlier announced a “big investment” in Mindanao during Metro Pacific’s annual stockholders’ meeting but did not share further details.

“GBP was established out of the need for adequate, reliable and cost-efficient power supply in the Visayas.  Now that the region’s baseload power requirements have been secured, we are delighted to have another opportunity to be of service to emerging markets like Mindanao and help drive the nation forward through our new partners,” GBP president Jaime Azurin said.

GBP earlier announced plans to double or more than double its capacity to 1,500 megawatts to 2,000 MW in the next five years from 854 MW at present.

ING Bank N.V. acted as Alsons’ sole financial adviser for the transaction while the law firm of Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose served as its legal adviser.

Macquarie Capital acted as sole financial adviser and Puyat Jacinto & Santos Law acted as the legal adviser to GBP.

Atec owns a 75-percent stake in the 210-MW Sarangani Energy Corp.’s baseload coal-fired plant in Maasim, Sarangani province. 

Alson’s long-time Japanese partner Toyota Tsusho Corp. will still hold a 25-percent equity in Sarangani Energy. Atec, meanwhile, will also assume Alsons’s stake in San Ramon Power Inc. which is developing a 105-MW baseload coal-fired plant in Zamboanga City.

Sarangani Energy’s  first 105-MW unit began operating in April 2016.  The second 105-MW unit is currently undergoing construction and is slated to begin operation by 2019.

The Sangarani plant, once completed in 2019, is expected to serve over six million people in the cities of General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Butuan.

The San Ramon coal-fired power plant is scheduled to commence commercial operations in 2021. 

Alsons also operates three diesel plants in different parts of Mindanao to provide peaking and backup power.