Lopez-led power company, First Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPHC) told the exchange that proceeds from the sale of its preferred shares will be used to partially pay off its US$25 million loan with Standard Bank Asia Ltd.

FPHC's chief finance and information officer Francis Giles Puno said in the statement that they will pay $3.55 million (P171.57 million) to settle a portion of the loan's principal, and $511,602 (P21.73 million) as interest payment.

After this payment, the balance of the Standard Bank loan will be reduced to $7.25 billion.

The Lopez Group has been paying off loans after selling several assets. These loans have made the group vulnerable to volatilities in the foreign exchange market, dragging the companies' bottomline.

abs-cbnNEWS.com is the online news unit of ABS-CBN Interactive, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN News. ABS-CBN and FPHC are both under the Lopez Group of Companies