LISTED Semirara Mining Corp., the coal mining arm of Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc., secured the corporate regulator’s approval to set up a new firm to spearhead operations of the group’s recently acquired 600-megawatt (MW) Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas province.

As part of its incorporation papers, the new firm—Sem-Calaca Power Corp.—will be formed to “acquire, design, construct, rehabilitate, expand and operate power generating plants and related facilities.”

The firm will be initially capitalized with 5 million shares valued at P1 apiece, a quarter of which has been subscribed to and paid for by Semirara Mining.

Incorporated in 1980, Semirara Mining operates in Semirara Island in Caluya, Antique.

In July, DMCI Holdings was declared the highest bidder for the Calaca power plant in a negotiated sale with the government. It submitted a $361.709-million bid, beating Thailand-based Banpu Power Ltd.

The move to acquire Calaca is seen as a defensive maneuver on the part of DMCI Holdings. Semirara Mining, almost 59-percent owned by the holding company, generates a majority of its revenues through coal production with additional revenues coming from coal handling services at the Calaca facilities of the National Power Corp.

DMCI officials said the parent company has already begun the rehabilitation process of the power plants, in preparation the scheduled turnover next year.

The Calaca facility consists of two 300-MW generating units primarily designed to run as a base-load plant and designed to use local coal from Semirara Mining.

DMCI Holdings said Semirara Mining reported a 34-percent improvement in net income in the first three quarters to P766 million compared with the same period in 2008.

DMCI Holdings’ other core businesses are in water services, construction, manufacturing and real estate.

For the first nine months of the year, DMCI Holdings said net income rose over 128 percent to P3.2 billion from the same period last year mainly from the water service business alongside other subsidiaries.

DMCI Holdings has a 44.59-percent stake in west zone water concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc., which it operates through a consortium with Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Other units include D.M. Consunji Inc., Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Co. of Manila Inc. and DMCI Project Developers Inc., under the brand name DMCI Homes.

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