SEC approves Aboitiz share swap agreement

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the share swap agreement entered into by Aboitiz Power Corp. and shareholders of three power distribution utilities.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Aboitiz Power  said the share swap involved the issuance of a total of 170.94 million common shares of the company at its initial public offering price of P5.80 per share, in exchange for 100 percent equity in Mactan Enerzone Corp., 60 percent interest in Balamban Enerzone Corp. and an additional 25 percent in Subic Enerzone Corp. (SEZ). 

Together with the recent acquisition of a 20 percent stake in SEZ from Team Philippines Industrial Power II Corp. (formerly  Mirant Phils.), Aboitiz Power’s total shareholdings in SEZ would increase to 100 percent.

Aboitiz Power, the holding  firm for all  the power distribution and generation assets of the Aboitiz family, recently completed the acquisition of a 34 percent stake in STEAG State Power Inc., which owns and operates a 232-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental  in Mindanao.

The company won the auction for the 34 percent equity in August with its bid of $91.9 million.

The Mindanao plant is the third foreign  coal-fired power plant designed, financed, built and operated by  Germany’s STEAG. It covers about 15 percent of the electricity needs of the island, which has some 14 million residents. The electricity generated is supplied to the state-run National Power Corp. over a period of 25 years.

Aboitiz Power’s distribution utilities in Mindanao include Davao Light  & Power Co., the largest distribution company  in Mindanao, and Cotabato Light & Power Co.