BPI-led consortium pools $525 M for power project

MANILA, Philippines – Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands is spearheading a consortium of banks raising $525 million for AES Philippines to partially bankroll the construction of a power plant in Masinloc, Zambales.

Reginaldo Cariaso, officer-in-charge and managing director of BPI Capital Corp., said the transaction underscores BPI’s commitment to finance and pursue projects that create a strong impact on sectors that are vital to the country’s economic growth.

The new 330-megawatt (MW) super critical coal power plant is envisioned to supply power to at least seven electric cooperatives in northern Philippines for 20 years.

“We are happy to enable private sector operators such as AES Philippines to play a bigger role in delivering high-quality energy installations to address the increasing demand for electricity in the country,” Cariaso said.

BPI Capital acted as sole issue coordinator and one of the joint lead arrangers for the transaction.

The facility is denominated in US dollars and has a tenor of 15 years, inclusive of an up to four-year grace period during construction and will be made available in fixed and floating interest rate tranches.

The fixed-interest rate tranche will be subject to a re-pricing on the eighth year anniversary to set the interest rate for the remaining seven years.

The other joint lead arrangers for the fund raising activity included SB Capital Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp., and PNB Capital Corp.

This facility followed a $500-million refinancing in 2013, also provided entirely by local banks, in support of the rehabilitation and modernization of the original 600-MW facility in Masinloc, Zambales.

American global power developer and operator at AES Corp. owns 50.55 percent of AES Philippines. Other shareholders are independent power producer Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. (EGCO) Group of Thailand with 41.35 percent and International Finance Corp. (IFC) with 8.1 percent.

The existing 600-MW power plant in Zambales is one of the largest base-load clean-coal power plants in the Philippines.

The partners intend to use the combined Masinloc platform as their vehicle for growth in the Philippines. — With Ted Torres