PSALM says Masinloc bidder may lose bond

Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. has given AES Corp. of the US until April 4 to pay the 40 percent down payment for its $930-million acquisition of the 600-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired plant in Zambales provinces.

Sources said PSALM might forfeit the $18.6-million bond paid by AES subsidiary Masinloc Power Partners Corp. when it won the bidding last year if failed to come up with the payment.

Final deadline date for the payment is on May 15 but the sources said PSALM would proceed to forfeit the bond if no down payment was made on April 4.

PSALM and National Power Corp. have completed documentation of the sale, including land titles and the required coal supply for the buyer to initially operate the plant and bring the facility’s operating condition to the “as is, where is” state when it was bid out in July 2007.

AES has been working on the financing for its acquisition of the Masinloc coal facility, originally aiming to close the deal within the first quarter of 2008.

AES has received a financing package from International Finance Corp., the lending arm of the World Bank, of up to $275 million to partly fund the acquistion. By Alena Mae S. Flores - Manila Standard Today