Power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) submitted a winning bid for the Paco-Manila property via a negotiated sale process conducted by state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) on Friday (September 10)
According to the government-owned firm, Meralco “submitted the highest offer” at P632,162,185.00; and that topped the minimum bid price of P527,087,552.00 that was prescribed and approved by the board of directors of PSALM for that property.
“The results of the negotiated sale will be subject to a post-qualification process to ensure that the winning negotiating party indeed meet all the financial and legal requirements indicated in the negotiation procedures,” the state-run company stated.
Meralco is the country’s biggest power distribution firm and has vast assets in its electricity distribution networks; as well as in power generation via its subsidiary-companies.
The other investing-party that joined the ‘negotiated sale’ process of PSALM for the Paco-Manila Property had been Toplis Solutions, but that company’s offer was established to have been non-compliant.
The asset-seller firm qualified that “during the evaluation of the eligibility documents, it was determined that Toplis was unable to include one of the required document, while another document it submitted did not follow the mandated format and wordings.”
With that successful negotiated sale, PSALM President Irene Besido-Garcia indicated that the company “finally completed the privatization process (of the Manila-Paco property) with a financial bid that is significantly above the minimum offer price set by the PSALM Board.”
That real estate asset was placed on the auction block for several times, but Garcia conveyed that “we did not give up in trying to find the right buyer willing to pay the best price to the government.”
She emphasized that “the proceeds of this privatization activity will be used by PSALM to pay the remaining stranded contract costs and stranded debts.”
The Paco-Manila property, which is sprawling around 20,975 square meters, has eight (8) separate non-contiguous vacant lots stretching out along Isla de Provisor in Paco, Manila.
The real estate asset is perceived to have strategic relevance to Meralco, primarily because it is situated near its Tegen substation that houses many of its electrification equipment.