Lopez firms unload stake in Panay Power

The power generation subsidiaries of the Lopez-controlled First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) have unloaded their entire stake in Panay Power Corp. (PPC) to Claredon Towers Holdings Inc. for P2.33 billion.

With the purchase, Claredon, a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Metro Investment Corp., now holds 100 percent of PPC, which operates a 72-megawatt bunker diesel power plant in La Paz, Iloilo.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, FPHC chief information officer Ernesto B. Rufino Jr. said First Generation Holdings Corp., a power generation holdings subsidiary of FPHC, sold its 50 percent interest in PPC for P1.164 billion.

Another unit, First Private Power Corp., 40 percent owned by First Gen, raised P465.8 million from the sale of its 20 percent stake in PPC.

Meanwhile, Panay Electric Co., on the other hand, generated P698.7 million from the sale of its 30 percent stake in PPC.

Rufino said the closing conditions to the sale are now being finalized by the concerned parties.

Incorporated in 1996, PPC was adjudged by diesel-engine supplier Wartsilar NSD the Best Power Plant Operator for 1999 among 40 power plants all over the country using Wartsila and/or Sulzer engines.

PPC reported a net income of P245.6 million last year on revenues of P749.2 million.

FPHC has transferred all of its power generation companies to First Gen, which owns and manages all of the company’s power generation activities. Other shareholders of First Gen include two international financial investors which hold a combined 11.56 percent stake – AIDEC FG Power Corp. Ltd. and Sumitomo Corp. of Japan.