More firms show interest in Napocor’s generating assets

More companies have expressed interest in bidding for the generation assets of the National Power Corp. (Napocor), according to Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) vice president Froilan Tampinco.

"As of Sept. 16, we have received letters of interest from 25 firms, of which 20 have already received copies of the information memorandum from PSALM," Tampinco said during a presentation before the PowerTrends 2003 Business Forum.

PSALM, under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), has been mandated to handle the privatization of Napocor’s assets.

Last week, Tampinco identified some of the interested firms as Mirant Corp., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Mitsubishi Corp., First Gas Power Corp., and Marubeni Corp.

According to Tampinco, President Arroyo has approved the privatization plan for the generation assets which allows for the sale of the assets in four groupings.

But he said PSALM will have to finalize the list of generation assets’ groupings once they receive feedback from the investors. "The final listing will be out by next month upon validation of investors’ feedback on preliminary information memorandum. We intend to schedule a meeting with the interested firms starting next month," he said.

PSALM has decided to proceed with the sale of the generating assets of Napocor while pursuing a negotiated deal with Singapore Power Ltd., the only company that showed interest to buy the transmission assets of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco). Transco’s assets were supposed to be privatized first before proceeding with the sale of the generating assets.

Tampinco said PSALM has lined up four power plants, which have a combined capacity of not more than 300 megawatts (MW), to be sold by November this year. These are Navotas 1, Palomo, Bohol and Loboc.

By the first half of 2004, he said they would proceed with the sale of Limay, Sucat, Masinloc and Ambuklao power facilities.

Based on the plan, 40 Napocor power plants have been identified for auction by PSALM.