First Gen to exercise call option on 390M EDC shares

First Gen Corp. on Monday said it exercising its call option on 390 million common shares of stock of affiliate Energy Development Corp. (EDC) at P5.51 per share. In a disclosure with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Lopez-led energy firm said the transaction will be consumed in a special block sale. The transaction also covers the remainder of 585 million shares of the call option agreements First Gen executed on April 20, 2010, with PhilPlans First Inc., Rescom Developers Inc. and Philhealthcare Inc./Systems Technology Institute Inc. "Exercising the remaining call option will increase our economic ownership in EDC to over 46 percent. Although there is still work to be done in terms of improving efficiencies, this investment affirms our belief in the strong fundamental value of EDC," First Gen president Francis Giles Puno said. First Gen had previously exercised its call option on 195 million shares of EDC, its geothermal subsidiary, at P5.67 per share. "The call option agreements grant First Gen the options over an aggregate 585 million common shares representing approximately 3.12 percent of EDC's total outstanding common stock within a period of three years, or up to April 2013, at the exercise price of P5.67 for the firs year, P6.19 for the second year, and P6.76 for the third year," according to First Gen. "First Gen has now fully exercised its option under the call option agreements," the company said. First Gen has an installed capacity of 3,047.4 megawatts, mostly in renewable energy power facilities, which accounts for around 20 percent of the market in Luzon. — VS, GMA News