Malaysian power giant eyes Napocor assets

Konsortium Logistik Berhad (KLB), the biggest power company in Malaysia, has joined the cast of international power giants that have expressed keen interest in acquiring the transmission and generation assets of the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

KLB executive chairman and president Mirzan Mahathir, said to be a relative of President Mahathir, visited the country recently to take a closer look at the ongoing Napocor privatization efforts.

"They are very interested," National Transmission Co. (Transco) president Asisclo Gonzaga said in an interview.

He said Mahathir was accompanied by Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s vice president for corporate affairs Datuk Sidek Bin Ahmad.

Gonzaga said Mahathir showed a keen interest in participating in the Transco bidding which is scheduled in June or July this year.

The Transco official said KLB also has plans of joining the auction for the generation assets of Napocor slated in the last quarter of 2002.

"They are waiting for the tender documents to be finalized before they come in," he said.

He said the group is also eyeing a local partner to join them in the bidding. "They need a local counterpart to complete the consortium," he said, noting that the proposed privatization plan allows foreign groups to own only 40 percent of Transco while the major portion – 60 percent is to be owned by Filipnos.

Aside from the Malaysian group, another transmission company, Red Electrica, the first independent transmission company in the world, is sending a team to the Philippines this month to firm up its commitment to bid for the transmission.

Red Electrica, currently listed in the Madrid Exchange, has the longest experience in the different roles of a transmission company in a deregulated power industry. It has played the role of a transmission asset manager, a system operator, and a market operator.

Other groups that have expressed interest on the transmission and generation assets of Napocor are: Intergen, Mid American Energy Holdings Inc., Edison Mission Energy, Hydro Quebec, and National Grid.

There are five Japanese firms that have also indicated plans to participate in the bidding. These include: Kansai Electric and Tokyo Electric.