Panay Energy Development Corp. raises financing for Iloilo City power project

Philippines' Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Business Power Corpation, has raised 11 billion pesos (around US$250 million) in the form of a 12-year syndicated loan facility for the 150-megawatt clean coal-fired power plant project in Iloilo City.

Global Business Power is scheduled to commence operations by mid-2016, with construction already 40 percent complete as of March 15.

The six financing institutions involved in the deal are the Bank of the Philippine Islands, China Banking Corporation, Land Bank of the Philippines, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, Philippine National Bank and the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company.

First Metro Investment Corporation served as the lead arranger for the loan, which was oversubscribed by P3.6 billion.

The loan represents 70 percent of the P15.6 billion total project cost while the remaining 30 percent was financed through equity.

The 150-MW expansion project would support economic expansion in Iloilo City and the rest of Panay Island.The latest loan is the fourth that GBPC has contracted in the last six years. The company has put up two 82-MW clean coal plants in Iloilo through PEDC, and three 82-MW power plants in Cebu through Toledo Power Company (TPC).