SMC mulls taking its power units public to bankroll expansion

MANILA, Philippines - Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is considering taking its power units public to bankroll the expansion of its energy business.

San Miguel told the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday that it “may register and list the shares of its subsidiaries in the power business with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Philippine Stock Exchange, respectively, at the appropriate time.”

San Miguel Power Holdings Corp., a subsidiary of San Miguel, is planning to build power plants with a total capacity of 3,000 megawatts to help meet the country’s growing electricity demand.

San Miguel is already one of the country’s biggest power players just two years after breaking into the sector as part of an aggressive diversification program. Most of its power-related assets are housed under San Miguel Global Power Holdings which consolidates four power subsidiaries with an existing capacity of over 3,300 MW coming from the 1,200-MW Sual coal-fired plant, 600-MW Limay thermal facility, 340-MW San Roque hydro facility and 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas-fired facility

San Miguel Energy Corp, the holding company for the group’s energy assets, earlier said it was studying investing up to $8 billion to construct liquefied natural gas facilities and power plants in the country.

Aside from San Miguel Energy and San Miguel Power Global, the conglomerate has formed a P1-billion, wholly-owned company that will engage in the business of producing electricity and processing alternative fuels for power generation.

The 120-year old conglomerate is veering away from its traditional food and drinks businesses as it makes a push into faster growth industries like power, mining, oil refinery, telecommunications and infrastructure.

San Miguel is aiming to double its existing power generating capacity to 6,000 in the next five years.

It is looking to acquire coal-fired power plants that will tap coal from Daguma mines, which San Miguel Energy acquired in 2010. The Daguma coal block has an area of 7,000 hectares and is located in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao.

Other coal mining assets of San Miguel in Mindanao include Bonanza and Sultan.

Together with Daguma, the three mines could produce 1,200 megawatts of electricity, San Miguel previously said.

San Miguel also has a stake in the Tampakan mine, which has one of the largest copper-gold deposits in the world. It is also located in South Cotabato.