“In stewardship, it reminds us that direction matters, because what compounds ultimately shapes resilience or fragility.”
That was how Federico “Piki” Lopez opened First Gen’s annual stockholders’ meeting on May 28. It sounded like one more Piki Lopez line: abstract, reflective, a little high-minded. But this time the philosophy had already been translated into deals, debt, and a set of decisions that now sit at the center of the Lopez cousins’ dispute.
What First Gen chair Piki and president Giles Puno laid out that day was a story in two moves. First, the listed energy company sold 60% of its gas business to Enrique Razon Jr.’s Prime Infrastructure for an adjusted P48.8 billion and kept the other 40%. Then, through its subsidiary FG Aqua Power, it bought 33% stake in Prime Hydropower Energy Inc. (PHEI) for about P61.9 billion. PHEI is the company behind the 600-megawatt Wawa project in Rizal and the 1,400-megawatt Pakil project in Laguna. Beginning in 2031, Puno said, those hydro projects are expected to contribute around P16 billion a year to First Gen under a 20-year contract. (READ: Lopez vs Lopez: The secrecy fight behind the Razon power deals)
WAWA. The Upper Wawa Dam has a capacity of up to 710 million liters per day, and is projected to benefit more than 700,000 households, or approximately 3.5 million people in Manila Water’s East Zone and nearby areas. Courtesy of Manila Water
