First Holdings’ offshore unit pays off $70-M loan

First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC), the energy holding unit of the Lopez group, announced yesterday that its offshore subsidiary FGHC International Ltd. has completed the payment of its $70 million loan facility.

In a disclosure statement filed at the Philippine Stock Exchange, FPHC chief information officer Ernesto Rufino Jr. said FPHC paid the balance of $45.07 million consisting of principal and interest. The loan was secured to finance the construction of a 500-megawatt (MW) power plant in San Lorenzo, Batangas.

Rufino said part of the funding came from the issuance of $35 million term notes to Asian Infrastructure Mezzanine Capital Fund (AIMCF), which is owned by the Washington-based Darby Overseas Investments Ltd.

FPHC, through its power generation subsidiaries, recently raised P2.33 billion from the sale of Panay Power Corp. (PPC) to Claredon Towers Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Metro Investment Corp. and Mirant Philippines. PPC operates a 72-MW bunker diesel power plant in La Paz, Iloilo.

FPHC still has P800 million in long-term commercial papers maturing this year and early next year.

Company officials are eyeing a P3-billion net income this year or an increase of 53 percent from the P1.958 billion profit reported last year. Expectedly, the bulk of the projected income will come from FPHC’s power generation business.

FPHC has four power plants: Bauang Private Power plant, which sells to the state-run National Power Corp.; Panay Power plant, which sells to Panay Electric Co.; and the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants, which sell to Manila Electric Co.

These four plants constitute the main sources of revenues and income for FPHC and its subsidiaries.