East Asia unit files for rehab in court

Publicly-listed East Asia Power Corp.’s power generation unit East Asia Diesel Power Corp. has filed for corporate rehabilitation with the Malabon Regional Trial Court.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, East Asia said the filing of the petition was prompted by the recent aggressive and precipitous actions taken by some of its financial creditors which included the seizure of all its cash deposits.

"EADPC’s management saw the need to undergo rehabilitation to enable it to resume its power supply services and thereby protect the interests of and benefit their stakeholders, employees and the general public," East Asia said.

With a feasible rehabilitation plan in place, East Asia hopes EADPC will resume full operations in the near future.

East Asia was established in 1975 as a mining company under the name Olecram Mining Corp. It ceased commercial operations as a mining firm after a decade and changed its corporate name to Northwest Holdings & Resources Corp. in 1992.

Consequently, the company changed its primary purpose from mining to that of a holding firm. Again in 1996, the company’s board of directors approved the change of its corporate name to East Asia Power Resources Corp.

The company is now known as one of the country’s independent power producers. It operates power generation facilities in Metro Manila, Bataan, Cebu and Mactan Island. It also has interests in a 24-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Jiangsu province in the People’s Republic of China.

In addition to its power plant operations, East Asia owns 100 percent of East Asia Power Services Inc. which offers planning, construction, operation and maintenance consultancy services to other prospective and established power generating facilities.

East Asia has also ventured into the transmission and distribution sub-industries of the power sector through the incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary, East Asia Transmission and Distribution Corp.