Napocor eyes P15-B bond sale this quarter

CEBU CITY — The National Power Corp. (Napocor) has revived a plan to issue P15 billion worth of bonds to raise funds to support its missionary role of serving far-flung areas. Napocor President Froilan Tampinco told reporters on the sidelines of a power stakeholders' meeting here it might be a good time now to borrow locally. "We are looking at issuing bonds worth P15 billion hopefully by the first quarter," he said. He said borrowing would support the state-owned firm’s financing requirement of P16 billion this year. The Napocor earlier shelved a plan to sell P7 billion worth of bonds after signing a P4-billion bridge financing deal. Tampinco said they hoped to resolve the issue of the firm's ability to pay debts with the Finance and Justice departments so they can sell the bonds this quarter. If given the go signal, Napocor would be selling five- to 10-year bonds, he added. Under the law that restructured the country's power sector, Napocor must privatize its power plants. This leaves it with the function of operating small power utilities and power plants that will not be sold by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., created by law to sell state-owned power plants. Small power utilities lead in planning power development in missionary areas — far-flung and thinly population locations that fall outside the power grid, making it unprofitable for commercial utilities to serve them. — NPA, GMANews.TV