Filinvest enters power business in Luzon

MANILA, Philippines - Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the investment arm of the Gotianun family, is entering the power generation business in Luzon with a 300-megawatt (MW) power plant project in the next few years.

The holding firm expects to reap a substantial income of P2 billion a year from its large investments in power generation in Mindanao starting 2016, officials said last week.

“First [in the expansion program] is the Luzon market. The growth requirements of Luzon are substantial so we will take a look at that,” said FDC president and CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap.

“We really want to grow our power portfolio, whether greenfield, acquisition of power assets or joint venture,” said FDC chairman Jonathan Gotianun.

“In general, we would start off probably with 150-300 MW. Normally you would scale it up,” Gotianun-Yap said, adding that the holding firm is also open to hydropower projects.

Subsidiary FDC Utilities Inc. last year broke ground for a 405-MW clean coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental that is scheduled to start operations in 2016.

When completed, it will be the largest power plant in Mindanao and is expected to alleviate the region’s ongoing power crisis. So far, FDC has contracted 81 percent of the power plant’s output to 17 power distributors.

FDC expects to book P2 billion in profits every year when its Mindanao coal plant starts operations in 2016, making the power generation business the third biggest income contributor next to property development (Filinvest Land Inc. and Filinvest Alabang Inc.) and banking (East West Bank).

The current investment, which required parent firm FDC to spend P9 billion, will serve the requirements of the Mindanao market, Gotianun-Yap said.

Gotianun-Yap said new projects would allow FDC to become one of the Philippines’ major power producers, which includes the San Miguel, Aboitiz, and Lopez conglomerates.

FDC is also finalizing supply contracts for the 40 MW output of the Unified Leyte geothermal power complex.

Aside from power generation, FDC is also expanding its hospitality unit through five to seven hotel projects that are either in the construction or planning stage.

Subsidiary FDC Hotels Corp. recently started the construction of the P3.49-billion, 192-room Crimson Resort and Spa in Boracay Island that targets, operation on 2016.

The company is also putting up a 150-room condotel in Tagaytay while planning for more hotels in areas frequented by tourists and business visitors, said FDC Hotels executive vice-president Francis Gotianun.