Aboitiz unit spends $11M on additional SPI shares

Aboitiz Power Corp. is buying an additional 15.6-percent stake in STEAG State Power inc. (SPI) for $11 million.

The power firm said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Thursday that it signed a share purchase agreement last February 21 to acquire an additional 15.6-percent equity interest in SPI. Upon completion of the transaction, Aboitiz Power will be the legal and beneficial owner of an 85-percent equity interest in the SPI.

SPI operates and maintain the 210-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant, including the transmission line and related facilities, at the PHIVIDEC lndustrial Estate in Misamis Oriental, Mindanao.

The acquisition will result in the expansion of attributable net income without adding new coal capacity to the grid, Aboitizpower said.

“Aboitizpower is continuously managing and optimizing its generation portfolio, both in thermal and renewable energies. This is a good opportunity to help sustainably manage an existing generation facility, which is a vital component of the Mindanao grid, and provides affordable and reliable power to many Filipinos. Since this is an existing generation facility, there are no emissions added to the total greenhouse gas emissions of the Philippines,” the company said.

Further, the coal plant will be instrumental in transporting energy to the grid. “With the energization of the Mindanao-visayas Interconnection, this plant will be able to export much-needed capacity to the national grid, which has experienced tightness of supply reserves in recent years.”

Aboitizpower is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, and retail electricity services.

Last November, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) said its income in January to September 2023 declined by 16 percent to P18 billion from the P21.4 billion recorded in 2022.

The company said it recognized non-recurring gains of P738 million for the period, lower than the P5.3 billion in non-recurring gains last year.

Without these one-off gains, the company’s core net income for the first nine months of 2023 was P17.3 billion, an 8 percent increase year-on-year.

Aboitiz Power Corp.’s income contribution to AEV during the period reached P13.9 billion, 37 percent higher than the previous year’s P10.1 billion.