First Gen Corp. said Wednesday wholly-owned subsidiary FGP Corp. signed a $308-million six-year term loan facilities with four banks to pay its debt and fund upcoming projects.
First Gen said in a disclosure to the stock exchange FGP, which owns and operates the 500-megawatt San Lorenzo natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant, signed the loan with Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO Unibank Inc., Philippine National Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Singapore Branch.
The company said it would use the proceeds from the initial drawdown on the loans to repay the amounts due on FGP’s debt of $164 million.
FGP plans to draw on the balance of the facilities in the next 12 months to pre-fund First Gen’s upcoming projects.
“The combined debt facilities totaling $308 million is a testimony to the strong support and continuing confidence of our lenders in First Gen’s natural-gas business. First Gen pioneered this business about 24 years ago and it has since reached even greater heights. The natural gas platform now stands at 2,017 MW and we are working hard to deliver the country’s first interim offshore LNG terminal project, as well as additional natural gas-fired power plants,” Francis Giles Puno, president and chief operating officer of First Gen said.
“Today, we are honored and grateful that our lenders continue to be supportive of our endeavors to deliver clean and cost-efficient power to Filipinos,” Puno said.
First Gen said it was on track for the completion of its LNG terminal project next year.
The company plans to modify First Gen’s jetty facilities in Batangas to enable LNG to be shipped to the country from anywhere in the world and regasify the LNG molecules via a floating storage and regasification unit.
First Gen was able to achieve several milestones for the LNG project such as the approval by the Department of Energy of its permit to construct.
First Gen awarded the turnkey construction contract to McConnell Dowell of Australia and awarded to BW Gas Ltd of Norway the chartering contract for the floating storage and regasifying LNG vessel.
“In 2021, we will prioritize the construction works and finalize the LNG suppliers for the terminal,” Puno said.
First Gen is a leading independent power producer in the Philippines that utilizes clean and indigenous fuels such as natural gas, geothermal energy from steam, hydro-electric, wind and solar power.
The company has 3,495 MW of installed capacity in its portfolio, which accounts for 19 percent of the country’s gross generation.