Manila, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is mulling the possibility of raising fresh funds through the issuance of peso-denominated debt instruments, a top company official said.
Meralco treasurer Rafael Andrada said they are now evaluating several proposals from various financial institutions and will decide on the borrowing scheme most likely by next month.
“We are talking to some banks and we will be able to come up with a decision on a borrowing plan in a month’s time,” he said.
He said they would prefer to borrow as soon as possible as the market is very conducive for borrowing at this time. He said it is also ideal to borrow on a long-term basis.
Andrada said they would still be needing about P20 billion for the refund of the meter deposits, which was a result of a Supreme Court decision, and other expenses.
“We are not certain yet how much we need but we will have to ensure that we will have funds to finance our requirements,” he said.
But the Meralco official was quick to point out that they would definitely not be raising the entire P20 billion in one blow.
“We cannot raise the P20 billion at one time. We will see how the phases of these refund schemes will be undertaken so we will know how much we need,” he said.
Meralco reported a slight increase in its net income in the first quarter of 2011 to P2.1 billion from P1.98 billion in the same period last year.
The company attributed the increase to an improvement in its electricity sales during the period.