Developer to spend P100B for RE

As published on Malaya

MRC Allied Corp. plans to expand its renewable energy portfolio to 1,000 megawatts in the next five years while working to spin off its real estate and mining ventures. The company looks to invest between P80 billion and P100 billion for its power venture, with a potential to generate P3.9 billion in profit, while its property and mining ventures are geared for possible listing by introduction in the stock market, said Gladys Nalda, MRC president.

MRC currently has a combined 160MW solar power harvesting project in the pipeline worth P8.8 billion. These are in Naga City in Cebu and in Clark Green City in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. The 60MW Naga project is covered by a supply contract for either the Visayas grid or large power consumers within and around Southern Cebu. The 100MW-Clark project meanwhile is covered by a power supply agreement with the Clark Development Corp. for the locators of Clark Green City and will be connected to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ transmission. The Clark and Naga projects are expandable by 40MW and 60MW, respectively, while still in pre-development stage. Both will be operational by 2019. Nalda said once operational, these plants would enable MRC realize potential profit of P690 million starting 2019. The facility’s payback period is five to six years. Nalda said the company looks to bring its power portfolio to 200MW by the end of the year and raise it by another 200MW each year until it reaches 1,000MW in 2022. Nalda said MRC is looking at taking over existing solar power facilities to expand its solar power portfolio to 500MW while adding other renewal power sources like wind, geothermal, hydro, ocean power, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to form the other half. By then the company projects profits from the power venture alone hitting P3.9 billion, said Nalda. MRC is working on a P1-billion preferred share sale to private investors and another P1-billion private placement to partially finance its power ventures. MRC meanwhile looks to putting up a special purpose vehicle that will hold its holdings in the property sector and the mining sector that it calls legacy assets. Nalda said upon transfer of the assets -- a combined 6.5 million square meters in landbank in Naga, Cebu and San Isidro, Leyte with an assess value of P1.61 billion, and a 25,000-hectare mining claim in Surigao, Boston-Cateel, Davao and Tampakan -- the company will work to have these assets declared as property dividend in preparation for a listing by introduction.