Alsons gets $73.5-M loan for power proj

MANILA, Philippines - ALSONS Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR), the publicly listed company of the Alcantara Group, has signed a $73.5-million long-term loan with local and foreign banks to fund its power development projects in Mindanao.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Alsons said it would use a portion of the loan to refinance existing debts.

ACR chairman Tomas Alcantara cited UBS AG, which arranged the loan with a consortium of local and foreign banks, for its successful completion of the facility.

As a power generation company, ACR is developing coal-fired power plants in Mindanao to help provide a stable source of baseload power for Mindanao and to ensure long-term power security for the island.

These power facilities are the 105-MW San Ramon Power, Inc. (SRPI) plant in Zamboanga City and the 210-MW Sarangani Energy Corporation (SEC) plant in a sprawling property in Maasim, Sarangani.

The SEC plant is one of only two power plants that would be operating by 2015 to help provide a sustainable and lasting solution to the four-year-old Mindanao power shortage, ACR said in the disclosure.

The first 105 MW section of the SEC plant is already under construction and is 76 percent complete. It is targeted for commissioning in May of 2015, with commencement of operations by October 2015.

The company is aiming to reach the full capacity of 210 MW by the fourth quarter of 2016 or within the first half of 2017.

Apart from the coal fired power plants which are under development, ACR currently operates three diesel power plants in Mindanao.

To date, ACR’s portfolio of diesel-fired power generation facilities includes the Southern Philippines Power Corporation’s (SPPC) 55 MW plant in Alabel, Sarangani, the 100 MW Western Mindanao Power Corporation (WMPC) plant in Zamboanga City, and the 103 MW Mapalad Power Corporation (MPC) plant in Iligan City.

ACR is also embarking on renewable energy projects such as run of river hydroelectric plants as well as solar power.

The first of these projects is a 16 MW hydroelectric facility at the Siguil River in Maasim, Sarangani, which is currently in the advanced stages of development and is expected to commence construction in 2015.