Trans-Asia raises P400M via private placement

MANILA, Philippines - Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. has raised P400 million through a share sale to private investors.

The fresh funds will be used to partially finance a coal-fired power plant under a joint venture with the Ayala conglomerate, a company executive said.

“The company has entered into subscription agreements with non-related investors covering a total of 400 million shares with an offer value of P400 million,” Trans-Asia told the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“Proceeds from the private placement will be used for the equity investment in the second 135-megawatt (MW) unit of South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.’s (SLTEC) clean coal-fired power plant,” Giles Katigbak, investor relations officer of parent firm Phinma Corp., said in an e-mail.

SLTEC is a joint venture between Ayala Corp.’s AC Energy Holdings Inc. and Trans-Asia. SLTEC will start operations of the P13-billion, 135-MW circulating fluidized bed power plant in Calaca, Batangas in 2014.

Trans-Asia owns and operates four plants with an aggregate production capacity of 186.4 MW. The bulk of energy sales came from contract customers, with excess output sold to the spot market.

Katigbak said it will also be used for possible investments in other power projects and general corporate purposes.

In July, Trans-Asia’s board approved the offering of 1.1415 billion shares to existing stockholders at P1 each and the sale of another 500 million shares to qualified investors.

Katigbak said the private equity placement was conducted simultaneous with the stock rights offering.

“The application for listing of these shares has been filed and is currently pending with the Philippine Stock Exchange,” Katigbak said.

Trans-Asia, which is 54.8-percent owned by Phinma, is into power generation and oil and gas exploration.

The listed firm holds shares in Service Contract (SC) 6A and 6B in Northwest Palawan, SC 14 (Tara Block) and SC 14B-1 (North Matinloc) in Northwest Palawan, SC 51 in the East Visayan Basin, SC 55 in Southwest Palawan and SC 69 in the Visayas Basin.