Palm Concepcion completes funding for P10-B power plant project

MANILA, Philippines - BDO Unibank Inc. has signed a P4-billion term loan agreement with Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC) to complete the latter’s P10-billion financing  requirements for its 135-megawatt power project in Iloilo.

PCPC, a joint venture between A.Brown Co. Inc. (ABCI) subsidiary Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. and the Rebisco Group’s Jin Navitas Resource Inc., earlier signed a P6-billion term loan facility agreement with Asia United Bank Corp. (P2.5 billion) and China Banking Corp.(P3.5 billion).

Proceeds of these term loan facilities will partially finance the engineering, procurement, construction and financing costs of the Iloilo power project.

PCPC president and CEO Roel Z. Castro said the PCPC power plant, which will use the circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology and the latest Alstom technology  for its steam turbine and generator, is expected to be operational by mid-2016. 

The coal-fired power plant project, launched last Jan. 15, will become one of the most advanced and most fuel-efficient plant in the Visayas once completed.

PCPC has tapped NLSC – the consortium of First Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corp. of China (NEPC), Liaoning Electric Power Survey & Design Institute and Shenyang Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd. – as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

“This also further strengthens PCPC’s commitment to deliver this much anticipated power generation project in the Visayas especially in Panay,” Castro said.

BDO Capital & Investment Corp. acted as the lead arranger and sole bookrunner for the three term loan facilities.

ABCI is a listed company primarily engaged in real estate and has ventured into the utilities and energy industry in recent years through Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. and other subsidiaries such as Hydrolink, which recently signed a hydropower service contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) and Peakpower Energy Inc. (PEI) which is set to implement other projects in Mindanao.