The negotiated sale of the 650-megawatt Malaya Thermal Power Plant and land failed to receive any participant during the pre-negotiation process on Friday as investor interest could have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. said over the weekend.
“While there were informal inquiries, no one formally submitted [Friday] their letter of intent to join,” PSALM president and Privatization Bids and Awards Committee chairman Irene Garcia said.
Garcia said PSALM, which manages the assets and liabilities of National Power Corp., would report the matter to the board chaired by the Department of Finance.
“The ongoing pandemic and the uncertainty of the times could be affecting the appetite of bidders to invest in Malaya. Whoever will acquire Malaya will necessarily have to spend capex on it. Investors are perhaps much more careful now in taking on new projects that will require substantial costs and capitalization,” the PSALM official said.
PSALM’s PBAC on Oct. 6 asked interested parties to join the negotiated sale process and submit offers for the privatization of MTPP.
PSALM scheduled the submission of letter of interest to the PBAC on Oct. 22.
The pre-negotiation conference was held on Friday while the offer submission deadline was set Nov. 16.
PSALM placed the minimum offer price for the assets in Pililla, Rizal under the negotiated sale process at P2,007,780,000.
PSALM earlier declared a failure the third round of public bidding on Sept. 23 for the privatization of MTPP and its underlying land after none of the pre-qualified bidders submitted a bid.
The minimum bid price for the MTPP in the third round of public bidding was P2,188,400,000.00, or substantially lower than the minimum bid price during the second round of public bidding on Nov. 22, 2019 at P4,481,796,017.00.