A Brown fully acquires shares in Vires Energy

A BROWN Co., Inc. has fully acquired Vires Energy Corp., the listed holding firm announced on Monday.

In a stock exchange disclosure, A Brown said the acquisition of the remaining 0.005% shares in Vires Energy increased its ownership to 100%.

In the company's disclosure dated June 18, 2020, A Brown announced that its board had approved the acquisition of all the outstanding shares of Vires Energy, with its initial acquisition of about 99.995% of shares.

Vires Energy, a subsidiary of A Brown, is one of the seven proponents of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in the Philippines. It plans to develop an integrated floating LNG storage and re-gasification terminal as well as a 450-megawatt floating natural gas-fired power plant in Batangas.

Data from the Energy department show that Vires Energy's floating storage and re-gasification unit has a total capacity of three million tons per annum and a total construction cost of P6.15 billion.

The power plant is expected to start commercial operations by 2027.

A Brown also said that Vires Energy has also secured an Environmental Compliance Certificate and a Board of Investments registration for fiscal incentives for the floating power plant and LNG terminal components of the project.

The company also said that the notice to proceed was also extended until October 2023 from the initial issued date last April 2021.

Vires Energy said it is now seeking long-term gas supply contracts and baseload off-take agreements.