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WOULD
the power firm that successfully bid for the
600-megawatt (MW) Masinloc coal-powered plant, US-based
AES Corp., also lose its performance bond ($18.6
million) like the first, YNN Pacific, because it also
could not come up with the up-front 40-percent payment
($368.8 million)?
This may
be, because AES was reported still waiting to draw down
the $275-million loan it obtained from the International
Finance Corp. (IFC), since the lender is reportedly not
releasing the money yet. It was not clear why.
Power
Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM)
had recently said AES would need to settle the up-front
payment on or before May 15 this year to merit the
turnover of the plant to them.
The
initial sale of Masinloc plant had not turned out well,
because winning bidder YNN Pacific defaulted on the down
payment of $227 million. The PSALM, in that case,
collected the $14.14-million performance bond of the
consortium.
The
source said PSALM and the state-run National Power Corp.
(Napocor) had already met its deliverables under the
sale document, such as land title and initial coal
supply.
AES
Philippines last year boasted it was looking at doubling
the plant’s 60-MW output. Matthew L. Bartley, AES
Philippines president, said they could do it, because
adding another unit or two entails only minimal expense
compared with putting up a new facility.
Bartley
further said they expect to close their acquisition
between end-2007 and early 2008. By then, Bartley said
they would have also paid the 40-percent down payment
using funds from its parent company. “But we are also
engaged in talks with some multilateral lenders and
commercial banks to finance the balance of the purchase
price.”
On July
26, 2007, AES or the Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd. (MPPCL)
posted the highest offer of $930 million for the
Zambales-based power facility, in a bidding wherein all
the bid offers considerably exceeded the $650-million
floor price set by the government.
The
Masinloc plant is the ninth government power asset
successfully privatized by PSALM, which translates to a
total privatized supply of 1,075 megawatts, or about 25
percent of the 4,336 megawatts, of aggregate capacity of
all generating plants in Luzon and the Visayas. |
