Bank of the Philippine Islands, the country’s third-biggest lender, led a consortium of local banks that raised up to $525 million to partially finance the new 330-megawatt power plant of AES Philippines in Masinloc, Zambales.
The plant aims to supply power to at least seven electric cooperatives in northern Luzon for 20 years, which could pave the way for lower rates in the area.
“This facility follows a $500-million refinancing in 2013, also provided entirely by local banks, in support of the rehabilitation and modernization of the original 600-MW facility in Masinloc, Zambales,” the bank said in a statement Wednesday.
BPI said the transaction underscored its commitment to finance and pursue projects that create a strong impact on sectors vital to the country’s economic growth.
“The facility is denominated in US dollars and has a tenor of 15 years, inclusive of an up to four-year grace period during construction and will be made available in fixed and floating interest rate tranches. The fixed-interest rate tranche shall be subject to a re-pricing on the eighth year anniversary to set the interest rate for the remaining seven years,” the bank said.
BPI’s investment banking subsidiary, BPI Capital Corp., acted as sole issue coordinator and one of the joint lead arrangers of the transaction. The other joint lead arrangers are SB Capital Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp. and PNB Capital Corp.
AES is 50.55-percent owned by AES Corp., a leading American global power developer and operator, 41.35 percent by independent power producer Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. Group of Thailand and 8.10 percent by International Finance Corp.
It is also the owner and operator of the existing 600-MW power plant in Masinloc, Zambales, one of the largest base-load coal power plants in the Philippines.
AES and its partners plan to use the combined Masinloc output as their vehicle for growth in the Philippines.
BPI Capital was recently cited by Finance Asia, a leading Hong Kong-based finance publication, as the Best Investment Bank and Best Equity Capital Market House in the Philippines for 2015.
Bank of the Philippine Islands posted an 8-percent increase in net income in the first nine months of 2015 to P13.84 billion from P12.80 billion year-on-year on the strength of its core businesses.
Total revenues increased P3.67 billion or 9.1 percent to P44.10 billion year-on-year as both net interest income and non-interest income rose P2.98 billion and P0.68 billion, respectively.