By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, July 14 (PNA) — Nickel Asia Corp. will secure a PhP 3-billion loan for Emerging Power Inc.’s (EPI’s) acquisition of Jobin-SQM Inc. (JSI).
“EPI is in the process of securing a PhP 3 billion loan facility which shall be used partly to finance up to 99.99% ownership in JSI,” the company said in a disclosure by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Tuesday.
Nickel Asia said EPI wants to build a portfolio of renewable energy projects to sell to offtakers, due to its stable prices compared to coal and bunker power plants.
Jobin-SQM Inc. has service contracts for 100 Megawatts (MWs) of solar projects and 50 MW for wind projects, including a 50-year lease agreement with the Subic Bay’s Metropolitan Authority for 800 hectares of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone for the projects.
EPI has allocated USD 60 million for the acquisition of JSI. It will develop the first phase of the project, a 25-MW solar farm that will be operational by March 2016.
In another disclosure, Nickel Asia Corp. said it will also lend PhP 3 billion to EPI for its 60 percent purchase of Biliran Geothermal Inc. (BGI), which has an ongoing drilling project in Mindoro. The site has an estimated 270 MW potential, comprised of 170 MW in the North and 100 MW in the South.
The remaining fund will be used for the initial electric turbines of up to 10 MW, which is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2016. It will also be used to fund the equity in BGI.
Both acquisitions are part of Nickel Asia Corp’s target to generate 300 MWs of capacity. It was initially engaged as a mining company (PNA)