**MANILA—**For months, the question hanging over the Lopez family’s energy empire was whether its most valuable assets would have to pay for the troubles of its most storied one.
That question may now have a different answer.
Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III’s family branch sold its entire 25.68% interest in Lopez Inc., the clan’s privately held ultimate parent, to businessman Ramon Ang in a transaction announced Aug. 10. Ang invested through a personal holding company rather than San Miguel Corp., while the remaining Lopez family branches retained majority control of the group.
The ownership change could do more than quiet one of the Philippines’ most public family disputes. It may remove the pressure on Federico “Piki” Lopez to turn the family’s power assets into a source of support for ABS-CBN Corp., the broadcaster that has struggled since losing its congressional franchise in 2020.
Media was Gabby Lopez’s mission. Clean energy has become Piki Lopez’s.
With those interests now separated at the ultimate holding-company level, the Lopezes may no longer be motivated sellers of Energy Development Corp., First Gen Corp.’s geothermal subsidiary and its most important controlled operating asset.
Two missions, one balance sheet
The family conflict had increasingly looked like a contest over the purpose of Lopez capital.
According to court filings and public statements reported earlier this year, one group of Lopez Inc. shareholders supported an infusion of funds into ABS-CBN, while Piki Lopez and his brother opposed drawing on the holding company’s reserves. Piki’s side cited unresolved audit questions and concerns over how the proposed capital would be used. The disagreement contributed to a February board vote seeking to remove Piki as president of Lopez Inc., an action that was later restrained by a court injunction.
The opposing family bloc said Piki’s removal involved broader questions of governance and trust, including criticism of major First Gen transactions. It particularly questioned the sale of 60% of First Gen’s natural-gas business to Prime Infrastructure and the subsequent investment in Prime Infra’s pumped-storage hydro portfolio. That faction asked why the family had surrendered control of gas assets it described as crown jewels.
Behind the arguments was a fundamental difference in priorities.
For Gabby Lopez’s branch, ABS-CBN represented more than an investment. It was a family institution built around journalism, entertainment and national reach. For Piki Lopez, the group’s future has increasingly been framed around decarbonization, renewable power and infrastructure designed for a lower-carbon electricity system.
Those visions competed for capital while they remained inside the same family holding company. Gabby’s exit makes that competition less direct.
Gabby said the sale would help restore peace within the family and allow his branch to direct its resources toward businesses aligned with its own mission. Ang, meanwhile, said the remaining Lopez branches would continue to lead Lopez Inc. and described the investment as a vote of confidence in the group’s businesses.
EDC becomes harder to sell
The change comes at a critical moment for Energy Development Corp.
In July, Indonesia’s PT Barito Renewables Energy Tbk submitted an unsolicited, indicative and nonbinding proposal to acquire EDC at an equity valuation of about $5 billion. Including debt, reports put EDC’s potential enterprise value at as much as $7 billion, making the approach one of the largest prospective renewable-energy transactions in Southeast Asia.
First Gen moved quickly to temper expectations. The company said there had been no discussions between the parties, no agreements had been executed and no financial advisers had been appointed. The proposal remained subject to due diligence, definitive documentation and regulatory approvals. No subsequent authoritative disclosure has shown that First Gen accepted the proposal or entered into a formal sale process.
Before Gabby’s exit, investors could reasonably wonder whether family pressure would make the Lopez group more receptive to Barito’s approach. A sale could have produced billions of dollars, replenished First Gen’s cash and potentially freed resources that could move through the wider holding-company structure.
That argument is weaker now.
The shareholder bloc most closely associated in public reporting with the proposed support for ABS-CBN has left Lopez Inc. The incoming investor is financially strong, but Ang has said the transaction was made in a personal capacity and that the Lopez majority would remain in control. There is no announced commitment to use the group’s energy assets to fund the broadcaster.
EDC, meanwhile, is performing too well to look like an obvious disposal candidate.
During the first half of 2026, EDC’s electricity revenue increased 41.6% to ₱32.25 billion, while net income rose 78.5% to ₱9.16 billion. Higher electricity prices, improved geothermal generation, newly operational plants, and contributions from battery storage systems drove the increase. EDC’s attributable contribution to First Gen climbed 73.5% to ₱3.69 billion.
After First Gen relinquished majority control of its gas business in November 2025, EDC became even more important. It is now the group’s principal consolidated earnings engine, its largest renewable-energy platform and the clearest institutional expression of Piki Lopez’s clean-energy strategy.
Selling EDC would therefore amount to more than monetizing a valuable subsidiary. It would mean selling the center of the strategy.
A large offer still deserves attention
None of this means that EDC is officially off the market.
At the reported $5 billion equity valuation, Barito’s proposal is large enough to require serious consideration by any board. But First Gen doesn’t own all of EDC’s economic value. It holds a 65% voting interest but only a 45.8% effective economic interest. The Macquarie- and GIC-backed Philippine Renewable Energy Holdings Corp. holds 34.9% of the votes and roughly 54% of the economics. A sale of the whole company would require reconciling the interests of both shareholder blocs.
First Gen’s economic share of a $5 billion valuation would equal roughly $2.29 billion before taxes, expenses, adjustments and the terms of any final transaction. That would be transformative capital, particularly as First Gen funds its 33% interest in the Pakil and Wawa pumped-storage developments.
First Gen paid ₱16.5 billion toward that investment during the first half and had a remaining subscription payable of ₱45.38 billion through 2029. Its cash balance fell nearly 59% to ₱23.74 billion, while operating cash flow weakened to ₱13.30 billion from ₱21.58 billion a year earlier.
Barito’s offer therefore still has strategic appeal. It could finance First Gen’s growth program, strengthen the balance sheet and potentially support distributions to shareholders.
But there is a difference between selling because the family needs cash elsewhere and selling because an outside bidder has offered more than the asset is worth to its current owners.
The first motivation appears to have receded. The second remains possible.
From forced sale to strategic choice
Ramon Ang’s entry adds another layer. Ang is an experienced investor in energy and infrastructure and is unlikely to regard any asset as permanently untouchable. But his presence could also provide stability at Lopez Inc., reducing the likelihood that profitable energy businesses will be asked to subsidize unrelated legacy obligations.
The likely result is a higher threshold for selling.
Without the internal campaign for an ABS-CBN infusion, Piki Lopez can argue that EDC should be judged against the group’s long-term clean-energy ambitions rather than its ability to solve a holding-company dispute. EDC provides baseload renewable generation; pumped storage could provide flexibility; battery installations can support grid stability; and First Gen’s retained gas interest provides transitional capacity while renewables expand. Together, those assets form a coherent strategy, even if the individual transactions have attracted criticism.
The Lopez group has already sold control of one major energy platform. Selling EDC would leave First Gen increasingly dependent on minority interests, development-stage projects, and hydroelectric assets exposed to changing water conditions. It would also surrender control of a geothermal operator whose earnings are rising just as regional demand for reliable clean power is strengthening.
For Barito, that means the question may no longer be whether the Lopezes can be persuaded to sell.
It may be how much Barito must pay to persuade Piki Lopez to give up the business that most clearly embodies his mission.
For years, media and energy sat beneath the same family roof. Gabby Lopez’s departure has begun to separate those legacies. ABS-CBN may remain central to one branch’s identity. But the remaining Lopez group can now focus more squarely on the enterprise Piki has spent years constructing.
That makes the energy assets less likely to be sold out of necessity—and more likely to be retained unless someone offers a price too compelling to refuse.
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Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes and is not investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs.
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