First Gen: No plan to sell EDC

First Gen Corp., led by the Lopez family, is reportedly not planning to sell its largest geothermal company, Energy Development Corp. (EDC), despite an offer from Indonesia's Barito Group valued at $5 billion. First Gen President and COO Francis Giles Puno stated that EDC will stay under the Lopez Group, which is already strategizing its future growth, particularly in geothermal energy.

Over the next five years, First Gen aims to invest up to P160 billion in capital expenditures, with around P70 billion dedicated to geothermal projects. Puno emphasized that companies like First Gen and EDC are crucial for the Philippines' growth, contributing to the expansion of geothermal and other renewable energy sources. The potential sale of EDC, which could yield about $2.29 billion for First Gen, is more than double the P58.5 billion initially invested by the company when it acquired EDC from the government in 2007.

However, selling EDC may result in losing a stable source of earnings for First Gen. The geothermal unit's attributable recurring income doubled from P1.9 billion to P3.8 billion from January to June. Despite this, any potential takeover of EDC would need to adhere to the country's foreign ownership limits. In 2022, the government raised the foreign ownership limit in the renewable power sector from 40% to no restrictions, applicable to solar, wind, biomass, ocean or tidal energy.