Aboitiz raises stake in Subic power firm

Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) will invest an additional P1.75 million in Subic EnerZone Corp., which has been awarded the right to distribute power in the Subic Bay Freeport under a rehabilitate-operate-transfer scheme.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, AEV said its board has approved the acquisition of an additional one million shares in SEZC. The company currently holds 20- percent interest in SEZC.

Other shareholders of SEZC include Mirant Philippines Industrial Power II Corp. (20 percent), Davao Light and Power Co. (DLPC) (40 percent), San Fernando Electric Light & Power Co. (10 percent), Pampanga Sugar Development Co. (5 percent), and Okeelanta Corp. (5 percent).

SEZC took over the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) distribution facilities last Oct. 25.

The board of AEV also approved the purchase of 40 million shares of Aboitiz & Co. Inc. (ACO) in William Gothong & Aboitiz Inc. (WG&A) for P3.98 per share or the same price offered by AEV during its tender offer for the WG&A shares in Nov. 2002.

The investment of Mirant, the Philippines’ largest independent power producer, will ensure a more stable power supply for the Subic Bay area and more competitively priced power in the future.

Mirant Philippines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mirant Corp., owns more than 2,000 megawatts of installed generating capacity nationwide. It also owns a stake in the natural gas-fired 1,200-MW Ilijan power plant.

AEV, the publicly listed holding company of the Aboitiz Group, is one of the country’s leading business conglomerates with core businesses in power, banking, transport and food.

The Aboitiz-owned DLPC, the country’s third largest private power distributor and recognized as one of Asia’s most efficient utilities, will provide the technical expertise and systems needed to operate an efficient world-class distribution network. San Fernando Electric, on the other hand, will share its resources and local knowledge in helping run the SEZC.

The consortium will also spearhead the rehabilitation, restructuring and expansion of the SBMA power distribution system in the next five years at an estimated cost of P368 million.

The franchise area over the SBMA covers the Subic Freeport secured area. It serves the central business district, the Gateway area, the Subic port district, and the Kalayaan and Binictican housing area and the West Ilanin forest.