The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. has formally closed the P36.266-billion sale of the Caliraya–Botocan–Kalayaan Hydroelectric Power Plants (CBK HEPP), sealing the transfer of one of the country’s most critical renewable energy assets to private sector control. 

PSALM said the transaction was completed on Friday, which supports the power sector reform program and pave the way for the long-term operation of the CBK facilities under new owners.

“The closing of the CBK HEPP sale is a testament to the confidence of investors in the Philippine power sector and in the government’s reform agenda,” PSALM President and CEO Dennis Edward A. Dela Serna said. 

The Thunder Consortium—composed of Aboitiz Renewables Inc., Sumitomo Corp., and Electric Power Development Co.—submitted the highest bid for the CBK privatization.

On Thursday, the group said it had secured up to P70 billion in bridge financing to partly fund the takeover, with the ability to borrow up to P35 billion each from BDO Unibank Inc. and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co.

The CBK plant operates under a 25-year build-rehabilitate-operate-transfer and power purchase agreement with National Power Corp., which expires in February 2026.

PSALM, which manages state power assets under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, has previously sold the 165-megawatt Casecnan hydro plant to First Gen’s Fresh River Lakes Corp. for $526 million. 

The agency is also evaluating the $350-million rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi hydro complex and plans to privatize other assets, including the 200-megawatt Mindanao coal plant and 72 hectares of real estate.

In 2021, Congress extended PSALM’s corporate life to continue managing these initiatives.