Aboitiz Power to issue P3.17-B in property dividends

Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC), a unit of publicly-listed Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., will issue P3.17 billion in property dividends to stockholders in line with efforts to consolidate its investments in power generation.

APC assistant corporate secretary Elsa Divinagracia said the company’s board, in a special meeting last June 13, approved to distribute all corporate investments other than those in power generation as property dividends to all stockholders of record as of June 16, 2003.

Divinagracia said the property dividend declaration will reduce the company’s unrestricted retained earnings to less than 100 percent of its total paid-in capital as required by law and regulations.

The APC board has agreed to refocus its business to become a purely power generation company.

The repositioning is in light of opportunities to invest and participate in the privatization of generation assets of the National Power Corp. (Napocor), and beef up its resources to the impending power supply shortage in various regions in the country.

AEV chief operating official Erramon Aboitiz said with APC being a purely generation company, it will be easier for strategic partners to infuse additional financial resources and provide technical expertise to bid for generation assets up for privatization.

Aboitiz stressed that the move would not result in any change in beneficial ownership, management and control of the businesses of the AEV group.

AEV earlier said it was interested in bidding for some transmission assets of the National Transmission Co. (Transco). In particular, it said it was eyeing sub-transmission assets in areas where APC is already operating.

APC’s affiliates San Fernando Electric Light and Co., South Davao Light and Power Co., Cotabato Light and Power Co., and Visayan Power Co. operate units nationwide.