sffifiire
to*oot, o.tottn zr, ,ors llB 1
Romero readies
big investments
in energy sector
By Darwin G, Amojelar
HOUSE Deputy Speaker Rep. Michael
Romero, t}le richest congressman who
recently gained majority control of
Philippines Air Asia Inc., disclosed his
group's plan to acquire poivet plants
in Luzon and Mindanao that will.i'sur-
prise" the energy sector.
Romero, who repr€sents 1-Pacman
parlylist in the House of Representa-
tives and controls Crown Investment
Holdings Inc., said his group wanted
to expand into the power sector.
Crown Investme $'on the bidding
for the takeorzer ol debi-iidden Zdm-
boanga City flecrric Cooperarive ]nc.
in September 2018 and expressed in-
terest to bid for Malaya Thermal Pow-
er P1ant.
"The porver business is the business
that I'm very very excited in. We are
puning up a couple o power plants in
Mindanao. \\te will report by next year
as a surprise in the power sector. We
will surprise a lot il the power sector,"
said Romero who sold his stake in
Manila North Harbor Philippines Inc.
through Harbor Center Port Terminal
Inc. to rival International Container .
Terminal Senices Inc. ofEnrique Ra-
zotr last year.
"We are currentiy buying one hydro
fplant] and we are finalizing one. We
are putting another RE frenervable
energyl with a capacity of 100 MW,"
Romero said. t
Romero said the memorandum of
understanding to acquire a hydropow-
er plant $'as already signed and was
expected to be completed before the
e3d ofthe year.
'""We
willalso bici in Malaya Ther-
ma1 Power Plant," he said.
R.omero and his wjfe Sbeila Ro@ero
who control F&S Holdings lnc. earlier
raised its stake in Ptrilippines Air Asia
to 60 percent froii.r 44.4 percent, after
acquiring the 15.6-percent stake of
Tony Boy Cojuangco.
AirAsia Bread founders TonY Fer-
nandes and Kamarudin Menardum
contlol the remaining 40 percent.
fhe airline operatbs several flights
to and Aom Manila, Davao, Cebu, :
Kalibo, Caticlan (Boracay), Tactoban,
Tagbilaran (tsohol)..:Puerto F "cesa
(Palawan), Clark and Iloilo in the Phil-
ippires.
It operates intemational flights to
and fiom Shanghai, Taipei, Incheon
(Seoul), Hong Kong, Macau, Kuala
Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Guangzhou,
Viemam, Shenzhen, Kaohshing, Bali,
Shenzhen. Indonesia, Sin-eapore and
Japan.
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