Ten major banks have participated in the P31.97-billion syndicated loan to finance Therma Visayas Inc.’s new 300-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Cebu.
Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) was the biggest lender among the 10 banks and has granted P7.5 billion to Therma Visayas, the joint venture company of AboitizPower Corp. and Vivant Corp.
The signing of the loan agreement for Metrobank was led by its President Fabian S. Dee.
Also present during the loan-agreement signing were Metrobank Executive Vice President and Head of Institutional Banking Sector Mary Mylene Caparas and Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Banking Anthony Ocampo.
Other lenders were BDO Unibank, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, China Banking Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Security Bank, Asia United Bank, the Development Bank of the Philippines, Maybank and the Philippine Savings Bank.
Metrobank’s investment banking arm, First Metro Investment Corp., was chosen as lead arranger and sole bookrunner.
Therma plans to build a new 300-MW coal-fired power plant in Barangay Bato, Toledo City, to answer the increasing power demand in the Cebu and the Visayas grid.
Of the plant’s expected 300-MW output, the 150 MW will be utilized by Visayan Electric Co., 30 MW by the Balamban and Mactan Enerzone Corp. and the rest by various industrial and commercial customers in the region.
The project will use circulating fluidized bed technology for its boilers to ensure lower emissions.
The plant is expected to be completed and fully operational by the first quarter of 2018.
Metrobank has the largest domestic network of 920 branches and over 2,100 automated teller machines nationwide, and 34 foreign branches, subsidiaries and representative offices.