GT Capital Looks For Opportunities In Power Sector

Conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc. may consider a major comeback in the power business should the right opportunity presents itself.

Photo Insert: GT has interests in market-leading businesses in banking; automotive assembly, importation, distribution, and financing; property development; life and general insurance; and infrastructure and utilities.

The listed holding company of the Ty Group exited the power business several years ago when it sold a majority stake in Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), a major power player in Visayas.

“We’re looking at it opportunistically,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista told The STAR when asked about plans to return to the power business.

“Now, it’s mostly renewables, but we’re not that familiar with the sector so we’re studying it,” he said. Bautista said GT Capital is more in a wait-and-see mode rather than being the first mover.

“If it really pans out then...we’re a very conservative group. Normally, we don’t want to be the first movers. Once it’s settled and the economics are established then yeah, definitely (there is a possibility to come back to power),” he said.

GT has interests in market-leading businesses in banking; automotive assembly, importation, distribution, and financing; property development; life and general insurance; and infrastructure and utilities.

Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) back in 2016 acquired a 56 percent stake in GBPC following a strategic alliance with GT Capital. GT Capital then entered as a strategic investor in MPIC, acquiring a 15.6 percent stake.

“So for power, we exited a long time ago,” Bautista said. At present, he said GT Capital owns an eight percent stake in Cebu-based Vivant Corp.

“It’s very small. It’s just a holdover from Global Power actually. It was one of those issues that when we sold Global Power, the Vivant shares were left with us that’s why to date we own eight percent,” Bautista said.

Vivant is a listed holding and management company with interests in infrastructure development mainly, but not limited to various segments of the power value chain to fulfill its mission of bringing excellence to industries that improve everyday living.

Subsidiary Vivant Energy, for its part, holds the company’s investments in energy generation, retail electricity supply, and energy-related engineering solutions in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It combines emerging and existing technologies to provide adaptable and innovative energy solutions.

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