Hitachi in talks with Meralco for partnerships

MANILA, Philippines - Japanese multinational engineering and electronics firm Hitachi Ltd. is in talks with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest power distributor, and several other Filipino companies for possible business opportunities and partnerships.

In an interview yesterday, Hitachi chief executive for Asia Pacific Ichiro Iino said the Japanese conglomerate is ironing out several deals with Meralco that would help the latter in its business expansion.

 “We are discussing a lot of business opportunities with Meralco. Meralco is a large utility company. We have batteries, IT, connectivity so we’re expanding Meralco’s business, we’re trying to work with them,” Iino said.

“Meralco is expanding power services so I believe they will definitely need additional facilities to take care of that increased capacity in power generation transmission. We are certainly interested in participating as much opportunity in power station expansions of Meralco as possible,” he added.

Iino said Hitachi already had a previous supply contract with Meralco for a 115-kilovolt gas-insulated switchgear (GIS substation) set for commissioning by yearend.

Aside from Meralco, the Hitachi official said the company is also talking to several other Filipino companies for potential partnerships.

Iino, however, declined to identify these firms at the moment.

“We can deal with any utility company or transmission distribution company in Philippines. The Philippines is growing up very much, we’re expecting business to pick up more,” Iino said.

With Hitachi’s Philippine operations still smaller compared to the rest of the Asia Pacific, Iino said there is plenty of room for growth when it comes to its operations in the country.

Iino said Hitachi is currently in the middle of mapping out a three-year plan for the Asia Pacific region.

Initially, he said the company is targeting a 10 percent revenue growth by end-2018 within the Asia Pacific region alone.

“We would like to exceed the growth rate of the region. I would like to bring the company grow faster than the regional growth because there’s a large opportunity here. So I cannot be satisfied with the growth that is as fast as the region grows. I have to look higher,” Iino said.

“We have 10 countries in Asia Pacific so what we’re trying to do is optimize manufacturing locations and connect all the global supply chain. The Philippines lies in that global strategy,” he added.