A telecom-and-power tycoon just gave the market fresh reasons to bet on a blockbuster deal.

Asked point-blank whether his conglomerate is eyeing the country’s largest geothermal producer, his comments left the door wide open: “We’ll cross the bridge when we build it, so to speak. So, it’s difficult to say.”

That’s not a no. And in a market that’s been trading on rumors about this exact tie-up for years, it was more than enough to set phones buzzing.

He went further, laying out precisely why the target makes sense. The geothermal company in question is one of the crown jewels of Philippine renewable energy, a portfolio anchored by one of the largest geothermal operations in the world, backed up by wind, solar and hydro assets that generate steady, dependable cash flow.

His own listed power arm has been on an acquisition spree lately, building up its clean energy stable piece by piece. “It’s renewable, so it might be a good addition,” he offered, matter-of-factly, as though he were simply stating the obvious.

Then came the walk-back. No talks are underway, he insisted — not with the family that controls the target, not with any company in their group. Nothing formal, nothing on paper, no negotiations happening behind closed doors.

Yet traders are unconvinced since nobody spends that much time explaining why an asset would fit perfectly into their portfolio unless they’ve actually thought hard about owning it. A flat denial takes one sentence. What he gave instead was closer to a pitch.

This isn’t new territory for either side. The two camps have circled this same asset before, with talk resurfacing whenever the controlling family signals an interest in acquiring fresh capital, or whenever his renewable energy unit needs a marquee deal to justify its valuation.

Nothing has ever materialized, but the fact that the conversation keeps coming up tells its own story.