MANILA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The Philippines plans to
negotiate the sale of a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant
after a unit of French utility Suez backed out of a
deal to buy the facility, a top privatisation official said on
Tuesday.
Suez unit Emerald Energy Corp made a winning bid of $786.5
million for the Calaca plant south of Manila through a state
auction in 2007. But it said last month it could not complete
the deal after the condition of the plant deteriorated.
"Under the rules, we are free to enter into a negotiated
bid with interested buyers," Jose Ibazeta, president of the
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM),
told reporters.
PSALM is the state agency tasked with privatising the
assets of National Power Corp, the country's biggest
electricity producer.
The agency can launch talks for the sale of an asset after
at least two failed auctions, Ibazeta said. Bidders who
qualified in previous auctions would be asked to make an offer
higher than the government's valuation of the asset, he said.
Ibazeta said it was unlikely the agency would receive an
offer as high as Emerald Energy's, which had considered
doubling the Calaca plant's capacity.
Emerald Energy forfeits to PSALM its $15 million bond paid
at the time of the auction.
(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
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