AP Renewables Inc., a full subsidiary of listed Abotiz Power Corporation, bagged the Tiwi-Makban geothermal complex in a bidding conducted yesterday by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) with a bid of $ 446.88 M.
It outflanked the only other bidder--First Luzon Geothermal Energy Corp. of the Lopez-controlled Energy Development Corporation which came in with a much lower bid of $ 368.44 M.
The Tiwi-Makban assets sold, comprising of 289 MW Tiwi geothermal power plant in Albay 458.53 MW Makban geothermal power plant in Laguna and Batangas, would be the first geothermal asset of the Aboitiz-group portfolio.
PSALM president Jose Ibazeta, obviously delighted with the successful sale, said "[we] have reached the 68.78-percent privatization level", which is close to the 70 % target required to be able to implement the "open access" regime in the power industry as stipulated in the electric power reform law (EPIRA).
For his part, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes pointed out that this is an important achievement as this is the first geothermal plant bid out by the government.
Yesterday, this corner put out its prognostication on the possible scenario on the sale just hours before the bidding closed. Let's see how we fared. Here is our scenario and the actual outcome:
* Suez Energy will confirm rumors that it is backing out - It did.
* Korea Electric will not bid - It did not show up for the bidding.
* EDC will bid, but it won't be aggressive - It did, and promptly lost to the eventual winner by a margin of close to $ 80 M.
* The Aboitiz group will bid - It did, and won.
* We expressed reservation on the success of the bidding - We were wrong.
Well, you can't win all the time.
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