APART from accelerating the payment of some debts, First Gen Corp. is also eyeing to tap the debt market to finance expansion plans for the year, chief operating officer Richard B. Tantoco, said Tuesday.

“We actually plan to refinance the remaining debts of the 500-megawatt (MW) San Lorenzo and 1,000-MW Sta. Rita gas-fired power plants within the year by at least $1.1 billion” Tantoco said, adding that two gas-fired plants have an outstanding debt of about $400 million.

At the sidelines of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines’s 11th conference on prospects for the Philippines, the newly appointed operations head quickly pointed out that plans coincide with the need to finance the expansion of San Gabriel by either infusing capital or tapping the debt market.

Tantoco said the debt for the two power plants have gone down from $1 billion over the past eight years.

He said that First Gen will borrow $1.1 billion to pay for $400 million of remaining debt and use the balance of $700 million to finance expansion projects.

Tantoco said First Gen’s chief finance officer Francis Giles Puno have sought expressions of interest from financing institutions since early this year.

He said they are actually looking at raising funds by tapping commercial banks and syndicated loans, or bond market.

Tantoco also said they have closed a $225-million convertible bond offering with book runner and lead manager J.P. Morgan Securities Ltd.. The float was oversubscribed at $260 million.

Tantoco said the bond was issued with a 2.5-percent coupon and will mature on February 11, 2013, with a minimum denomination of $500,000, and was offered outside the United States under Regulation S of the US Securities Act.

The bonds are convertible, at the option of the holder, into fully paid shares, at an initial conversion price of P63.72 per share.

Money from the bonds will pay for the staple financing offered by Banco de Oro, Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines that First Gen tapped to buy 60 percent of the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp.

Meanwhile, Federico R. Lopez was elected as chief executive officer of First Gen, while concurrently holding the positions of president and chief executive and taking over the energy portfolio of the Lopez Group from Peter D. Garrucho Jr.

Garrucho retired as managing director for energy of First Gen parent, First Philippine Holdings Corp.

“I am thoroughly excited by our prospects, most especially with our recent acquisition of PNOC EDC. We have an excellent team at First Gen, and we are going to take the company to even greater heights,” Lopez said.

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APART from accelerating the payment of some debts, First Gen Corp. is also eyeing to tap the debt market to finance expansion plans for the year, chief operating officer Richard B. Tantoco, said Tuesday.

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