Another int’l roadshow mulled if Transco talks fail

The government may opt to conduct another international roadshow for the privatization of the assets of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) if the two interested investors fail to act soon, a ranking Transco official said.

Transco president Alan Ortiz said Singapore Power Corp. (SPC) and the Finnish power firm that have signified interest in the Transco assets have yet to make formal negotiations with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

"If that’s the case then we will have to market it some more, maybe another roadshow. If Singapore Power is worried of the upcoming national elections and opted to wait for the results of the election as the barometer for their investment in the country then we just have to wait and see. Otherwise, our option maybe is to do another roadshow," Ortiz said.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, PSALM will handle the finances and the privatization of the transmission and generation assets of the government-controlled National Power Corp. (Napocor).

Ortiz said SPC was supposed to send another team to the Philippines to conduct the financial due diligence after the first batch of representatives completed their technical evaluation of the Transco assets.

"There was no advice from them. SPC said they will send the second party. The Finnish firm said they will be sending a team by the end of this month to determine if they will take the next step. But it is already the end of the month. We cannot read their minds," he said.

But Ortiz was quick to point out that they consider the arrangement with SPC as "open-ended".

"Right now, I have no clue. Nobody has said anything. SPC has not advised us of their next move. But I am optimistic that it will happen because the due diligence process was serious. There were two technical due diligence which were very serious, very legitimate and very thorough," Ortiz said.

He admitted though that these investors could just be taking their time studying the political situation in the country. "From day one, they knew about that. We will just have to wait and see," he said.