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6 February 2007 - The Philippine government failed for the fourth time on Monday to privatise the country's power grid when only one of three bidders made a formal offer, officials said.
Philippine investment firm Citadel Holdings Inc and Terna SPA of Italy was the only bidder for the 25-year licence to run the country's multi-million dollar power grid. The government is now considering entering into a negotiated deal, finance secretary Margarito Teves said. Adding that the other option would be to call for another round of bidding.
"We hope to be able to reach a decision within the week," he told reporters after the auction. Two other bidders a consortium comprising Triratna Holdings Corp, Malaysia's Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Newbridge Asia IV LP and the group Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp and State Grid Corp of China failed to come up with offers.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the two bidders had raised certain issues but did not specify what they were. The government had in the past postponed the bidding due to technical and legal issues.
The bidding was for a 25-year concession of operations of the National Transmission Corp (TransCo), which has assets worth over $2.7bn. The Philippine government has been trying to privatise TransCo for the past four years with no success. It has been estimated that nearly one billion dollars will need to be spent over the next five years to upgrade, modernise and expand the country's power grid.
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