3rd party to sell biomass assets of AboitizPower

MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz Power Corp. has tapped a third party to sell the assets of its 8.8-megawatt (MW) biomass power plant in Lian, Batangas as disposal of the equipment drags on.

The company is still selling the equipment of its Batangas biomass power plant after it shut down in late 2017, AboitizPower COO Emmanuel Rubio said in an interview.

“Actually, it’s still being offered for sale. We’ve actually just appointed a party to look at disposing the facilities,” he said, refusing to disclose the name of the company.

In tapping the third party, the company will be the one to solicit interested buyers and make an offer to AboitizPower.

“We don’t have the resources to go out there and look for buyers or interested parties,” Rubio said.

The process to sell the biomass plant equipment through the third party has already started, the company official said.

In May 2018, AboitizPower announced plans to sell the biomass power project after it decided to stop operating the facility.

The firm garnered interests from two parties – one local and on foreign – to acquire the power facility. However, nothing has materialized from discussions with the interested parties.

The 8.8-MW biomass plant is the group’s first biomass project.

It is under Aseagas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of AboitizPower through Aboitiz Renewables Inc., its holding company for its investments in renewable energy.

However, Aseagas permanently ceased operations of the facility in January 2018. Before that, the plant was previously placed on extended shutdown towards the end of 2017 due to lack of feedstock.

As a result of the closure, total value affected is estimated to be at P3.7 billion, which represents Aseagas invested equity of P3.45 billion and the company’s estimated remaining obligations of around P250 million.