Aboitiz Equity Sets P77-B Capex for 2018; Eyes ASEAN Expansion

Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) is more than doubling its capital expenditure (capex) budget to PHP77 billion this year, mainly to bankroll key power projects here as it looks at opportunities to build footprint in Southeast Asia.

The Aboitiz Group allocated PHP35 billion in capex in 2017.

AEV Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Manuel Lozano said the bulk, or PHP60 billion, of its capex budget this year will be allotted to its power business.

Lozano said the group’s food, real estate, cement and banking businesses will get the remaining PHP17 billion.

“We are finishing several (power) projects this year… We are a little below 3,000 megawatts (of attributable capacity), we should be around 3,500 MW by the end of the year,” he said in an interview Friday night.

Lozano bared that the first unit of Therma Visayas Inc. baseload power plant in Cebu is scheduled for completion this September, while its second unit would be done by the end of 2018.

He said the Manolo Fortich hydropower facility in Bukidnon should be running within the third quarter of the year.

The Pagbilao Energy Corp. plant expansion in Quezon province has started commercial operations this month, he added.

“I think the prospects are good. Actually, in the first few months of this year, we saw a spike in (energy) demand, at least (in) the utilities that we are operating,” said Lozano.

As it builds footprint in Southeast Asia, Lozano further said the conglomerate is looking for more opportunities particularly for power business focusing on Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

“We focus on several projects in Vietnam that are promising. We are hoping that by the end of the year, we should have already some developments there. We are looking at hydro and solar projects,” he said.

He sees growing markets in Indonesia and Vietnam, noting that both countries are looking for renewable power to make it more sustainable.

Lozano said he considers the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as good and right market.

“It’s (ASEAN) proximity to the Philippines. We also believe that the ASEAN region is one of the fastest growing in the world, if not the fastest. We can add value with our expertise in geothermal and hydro and other power projects so we think that this is the right market for us now,” he added. (PNA)