Global Business Power, Alsons finalize partnership in ATEC

ALSONS CONSOLIDATED Resources, Inc. (ACR) and Global Business Power Corp. (GBP) have finalized their partnership in a Mindanao power generation holding company.

In a statement released on Wednesday, ACR said it signed the shareholder’s agreement with GBP for the latter’s acquisition of a 50% stake in Alsons Thermal Energy Corp. (ATEC), which holds the Alcantaras’ baseload coal-fired power plant assets.

“We believe this partnership will greatly benefit power consumers, particularly in light of the planned interconnection of the Mindanao and Visayas grids which we strongly support,” ACR Chairman and President Tomas I. Alcantara was quoted as saying in a statement.

He said the partnership with GBP, a leading power producer in the Visayas, would also allow it to pursue other energy-based projects, particularly renewable power plants in Mindanao and Western Visayas.

“It will likewise allow ACR to accelerate its foray and entry in other energyrelated enterprises in Southern Philippines, including the smaller islands with promising growth in power demand,” Mr. Alcantara said.

ATEC owns 75% of the 210-megawatt (MW) Sarangani Energy Corp. coalfired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani province.

In September, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) gave the go-signal for GBP’s acquisition of a 50% stake in ATEC, saying the transaction “does not result in a substantial lessening of competition in the relevant market.”

“There appears to be neither increased ability nor incentive to engage in foreclosure, post-acquisition, in the power generation market […] and there appear[s] to be sufficient postacquisition competitive constraints from competitors in the power generation market,” it said in the decision signed by PCC Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan and three other commissioners.

GBP is an associate of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC). MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kongbased First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.