San Miguel eyes Sucat plant

After acquiring a Bataan plant, San Miguel Corporation expressed interest in buying the Sucat Thermal plant, a dormant plant in Manila.

San Miguel, Southeast Asia's biggest food and drinks company, has been venturing outside its established businesses as a growth startegy.

The 600 megawatt power Sucat plant is owned by the state-run National Power Corporation.

Just two weeks ago, SMC through the San Miguel Energy Corp., acquired the Limay, Bataan power plant, a 620-megawatt combined cycle power facility, which the government was unable to sell for four times. It is SMC's first power plant.

The acquisition was through a negotiated sale transaction with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.

SMEC offered $13.502 million for the Bataan-based plant, surpassing the reserve price.

The power plant remained unsold after three public biddings in July 2008, January 2009, and March 2009 due to lack of interest from investors.

The successful negotiated sale was the fourth attempt of PSALM to privatise the Limay plant.