Marubeni Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Japanese firms who won the bidding for the Philippine assets of Mirant Corp. said Wednesday they might get financing from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) to finance the $3.4 billion purchase.

Mirant Corp., an American firm, has opted to sell its 2,203 MW power generating assets in the country under Mirant Philippines.

Federico Puno, president of Marubeni Philippines Corp. said they and partner Tokyo Electric are looking at JBIC financing to settle and payment in full the Mirant assets.

Puno, however, said the matter was " still under discussion."

He stressed that the partners wanted to maximize their use of financing from JBIC and other Japanese banks.

Puno also said the group is waiting for the term sheet from Mirant, which would outline the terms and conditions of the sale.

According to Puno, Mirant's financial adviser Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) offered the group "stapled financing." However, the group rejected the offer because it was "commercial." He said it would be cheaper to borrow from JBIC.

The Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. of Japan and ING Bank N.V. of the Netherlands are the consortium's financial advisors.

Assets sold in the transaction include 100 percent of the 1,218 MW coal fired power plant in Sual, Pangasinan, 100 percent of the 735 MW coal fired power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon and 20 percent in the Ilijan, Batangas natural gas power plant.

Puno said the transaction would be closed once repair of the Sual power plant is completed.

In July last year the unit 2 of the coal plant was closed due to some technical concerns. In the third quarter 2006, unit 1 also experienced problems.

Unit 2 is expected to be operational by March while unit 1 will go online within a few months. Mirant earlier said the financial impact of the Sual plant repairs will not exceed $10 million. - GMANews.TV