San Miguel buys Philippine power firm for $1.9bn

MANILA: Top Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp said Tuesday it has bought a power plant for $1.9 billion, adding to its burgeoning electricity generation assets.

San Miguel unit SMC Global Power Holdings acquired the equity stake held by AES Philippines and Thailand's EGCO group in Masin-AES, an SMC statement said.

The deal involves the 630-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired power plant, a 355-megawatt coal-fired unit still under construction and a 10-megawatt battery storage plant.

"We are happy to be able to acquire Masinloc. The additional power assets provide us an opportunity to increase our footprint in clean coal technology that provides reliable and affordable power," SMC president Ramon Ang said in the statement.

San Miguel began life 127 years ago as a brewery but has since branched out into such areas as petroleum, infrastructure, liquor and food.