MRC Allied partners with Chinese firm for energy deals

As published on Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – MRC Allied Incorporated and China Energy Engineering Group Guangdong Power Engineering Company Limited will jointly explore opportunities in the Philippines' renewable energy sector.

The publicly-listed MRC Allied said in a statement on Thursday, July 27, that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China Energy Engineering Group for local renewable energy ventures.

"The purpose of the MOU is to confirm that both parties have an interest in developing renewable energy projects in the Philippines as identified by [the company]," said MRC Allied, which also holds a diversified portfolio in property development and mining exploration.

Under the MOU, China Energy Engineering Group will conduct due diligence for a period of one year from the signing.

The purpose of the due diligence is to allow China Energy Engineering Group to make a decision to pursue renewable energy projects with MRC Allied.

Also, the parties are bound by the terms and confidentiality while the MUO is in force and within one year thereafter.

China Energy Engineering Group, a company based in Guangzhou, engages in the business of exploration, development, and construction of energy projects.

MRC Allied is diversifying into the energy sector, particularly renewable energy. (READ: Renewable energy is healthy energy)

Its primary purpose is to develop, design, construct, operate, maintain, buy, acquire, sell, import, and export renewable and clean energy equipment, systems, power plants, and technologies.

1,000 megawatts

MRC Allied president Gladys Nalda has said that the company plans to put up at least 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy in the next 5 years.

"In line with our vision to be one of the major players in the Philippine power industry, we plan to develop at least 1,000 megawatts of clean and renewable energy by 2022," said Nalda, former vice president for legal and corporate affairs of state-owned PNOC Renewables Corporation and legal counsel of the Department of Energy.

For this year, MRC Allied has an aggregate of 160MW solar capacity in the pipeline. These are in Clark Green City, Tarlac and in Naga City, Cebu, with a target installed capacity of 100MW and 60MW, respectively.

Last June, the board implemented a P1-billion private placement and created preferred shares to be part of the increase in the company's authorized capital stock.

The authorized capital stock of the company is P3.5 billion, consisting of 3 billion common shares with par value of 50 centavos per share and two billion preferred shares with par value of P1 per share.

The company expects to generate a combined P2 billion from both capital raising moves, while another P1 billion is expected to be raised from other sources, including institutional investors.

MRC Allied director Bernard Rabanzo is a shareholder of Dolphin Fire Group, which has a stake in Rappler.