ENERGY Development Corporation (EDC) moves closer to its goal of overhauling the currency mix of its loan portfolio as it settled on June 28 its JPY22- B Miyazawa II debt. With the settlement, EDC’s JPY loans now account for only 13% of the company’s total loans from the 87% and 40% reported in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
“Our investors have singled out the predominance of JPYdenominated debt as a major concern because of our vulnerability to forex translation losses. Since taking over in 2008, we have fully addressed this concern with the redenomination of our debt stock to one that is now predominantly peso, or 66% of total loans,” said EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco.
“From this point on, our income statement will be more predictable as it is no longer subjected to large swings in the amount of unrealized forex losses/(gains) now that EDC has become less reliant on yendenominated debt.”
During the first half of 2010, EDC had hedged the US$:JPY exposure of its JPY 22-B maturity, benefiting the company about P181.1 million. The Miyazawa II loan was among the legacy loans which PNOC-EDC carried over into the present-day, fully private EDC. E DC posted a P3.80 billion net income for the first quarter of 2010, up 68% from the P2.27B posted for the same period last year. Revenues from its subsidiary corporations, Green Core Geothermal Inc. and First Gen Hydro Power Corporation, were largely responsible for the rise in net income for the quarter, contributing P1.22B.