Toledo Power gets P7-B loan for new power plant

Toledo Power Corp. secured a P7-billion loan to fund the ongoing construction of its 82-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Toledo City.

The new power plant will supply the additional electric power requirements of Carmen Copper Corp. starting December 26, 2014.

Carmen Copper, a subsidiary of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., needs the additional power for its expanded operations.

Toledo Power is currently supplying Carmen Copper with 40 MW of power through its 66-MW coal-fired facility in Daanlungsod, also in Toledo City.

With the signing of an electricity power purchasing agreement between the two parties in June last year, Toledo Power is now tasked to put up a new 82-MW power facility, the construction for which is ongoing, that can supply an additional 60 MW to Carmen Copper.

This will bring the total capacity to be supplied by Toledo Power to 100 MW by end of next year.

The company commissioned Formosa Heavy Industries (FHI) to provide the design, engineering, procurement and construction for the new 82-MW facility.

The plant will be using the same clean coal technology used in the existing power facilities of Global Business Power.

In a statement, Toledo Power said its P7-billion loan requirement was 50-percent oversubscribed, a positive indicator of the financing institutions’ strong confidence on the coal power project.

The loan would cover 70 percent of the P10.175 billion project cost, while the remaining 30 percent is being funded through equity.

An Omnibus Facility Agreement was signed by a consortium of local financing institutions, namely, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Chinabank, EastWest Bank, Land Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Philam Life, UnionBank and United Coconut Planters Bank.

Acting as lead arranger for the loan was First Metro Investment Corp., while the co-arrangers were BPI Capital Corp., China Banking Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, RCBC Capital Corp., UnionBank of the Philippines and United Coconut Planters Bank.

The Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Trust and Investments Group acted as the facility agent while the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. Trust Banking Group served as the trustee and paying agent.

Apart from the coal plant, Toledo Power also operates a 40-MW diesel-fired power plant in Cebu.

Its parent, Global Power, is one of the leading independent power generators in the Visayas region with facilities in Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan and Oriental Mindoro, that can generate a total of 633 MW. It is a member of the GT Capital Group of Companies of which Metrobank is the flagship company. It is a subsidiary of the Metrobank./INQUIRER