Power producer First Gen Corp. reported a third-quarter net income of $35.6 million, down 64.1 percent from $99.1 million in the same period last year, in the wake of its acquisition of controlling interest in geothermal power producer Energy Development Corp. (EDC).

The unit of the Lopez group told the stock exchange that the profit drop was due mainly to increased interest and financing cost related to the EDC acquisition, and partly to income tax payments of its 1,000-megawat Sta. Rita gas-fired plant in Batangas province and reduced net income of First Gen Hydro Power Corp., which owns the 112-megawatt Pantabangan/Masiway power plant complex in Nueva Ecija.

“Our lower net income was expected considering the amount of debt we had to take,” said Giles Puno, chief financial officer.

First Gen saw an increase of 150.2 percent in consolidated interest expenses and financing charges to $141 million, from $56.4 million last year, mainly due to the acquisition of EDC and the consolidation of interest on EDC loans.

This was made worse by unrealized foreign exchange losses due to the depreciation of the peso and the appreciation of the Japanese yen, the company said.

First Gen “is currently focused on a number of fund-raising exercises and is already on its way to normalizing its financials,” Puno said.

He said that with the closing and funding this week of a $544-million term loan of subsidiary First Gas Power Corp. and the sale of the stake in the Pantabangan/Masiway hydro plant, First Gen had addressed most of the bridging loans falling due in November. Edited by INQUIRER.net