URC gets SEC green light to enter power business

MANILA, Philippines - The Gokongweis’ venture in the power business has received the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the group said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

Its food units, Universal Robina Corp. (URC), said it has received the corporate regulator’s approval for the amendment of the company’s secondary purpose in its incorporation papers to include the business of power generation and related activities.

URC, the maker of the popular C2 health drink, Jack N’ Jill food products and other snack foods, plan to put up a 40-megawatt biomass plant in Negros Occidental.

Last year, the company announced it is expanding into the power generation business and has set aside roughly P2 billion for the biomass-fired generation facility in Negros to be completed by 2015.

The site is seen to complement its sugar milling business in the province. It earlier said it is setting aside P1 billion for the construction of an ethanol production plant, also in Negros Occidental.

For the biomass facility, which URC targets to complete the first phase in 2014, the company plans to use a portion for its own operations then sell excess capacity to the grid.

Biomass facilities are becoming more popular. These facilities produce clean renewable energy out of human, plant or animal waste. Sugar mills, meanwhile, produce large amounts of bagasse as waste, which in turn can be used to produce fuel for the biomass plants.

Aside from Negros Occidental, URC also has sugar mills and refineries in Negros Oriental, Iloilo City and Cagayan.

The plan to construct a biomass plant marks the Gokongwei Group’s foray into the power business on top of its existing operations in the retail, power, airline and banking industries.

Last year, URC posted a net income of P7.73 billion, up 67 percent from P4.63 billion in 2011 on the back of strong consumer sales.