NEWS

By IanSayson | Forbes | August 7, 2024

Edgar Saavedra.Megawide

The 5.3 billion-peso ($91 million) June IPO of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC), one of the largest solar power producers in the Philippines, propelled its chairman, Edgar Saavedra, back into the ranks of the country’s richest after a four-year gap.

CREC is splurging 180 billion pesos on a nearly 18-fold capacity expansion to 5,000 megawatts of solar power in five years, up from 285 megawatts now.

With roots in the construction business, Saavedra plans to build it on his own to reduce his dependence on third-party contracts, which proved challenging during Covid-19. It’s “a natural progression of our construction DNA,” he says.

At the same time, the tycoon is growing his property portfolio under listed Megawide Construction’s PH1 World Developers unit. It aims to launch two to three residential projects a year and Saavedra says he wants to increase its landbank to 200 hectares by 2027 from 50 hectares currently, with a view to listing the unit in as early as three years.

Saavedra—who retains majority stakes in CREC and Megawide—exited the roster in 2020 as the pandemic hit the construction business as well as operations at his Cebu-Mactan airport joint venture, which was sold to the Aboitiz Group in 2022 for 25 billion pesos. The civil engineer cofounded Megawide in 1997 with his college pal Michael Cosiquien, whose stake Saavedra says he has bought out. Cosiquien also returns to the list this year.

Source: Forbes

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