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Singapore group to buy 45% stake in NCC Power Projects for Rs 848 crore

Sembcorp Industries, a Singapore-based energy, water and marine group, has signed a conditional agreement to acquire 45% stake

Sembcorp Industries, a Singapore-based energy, water and marine group, has signed a conditional agreement to acquire 45% stake in Hyderabad-based NCC Power Projects (NCCPPL) for R848 crore. NCC Power is currently building a 1,320-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Andhra Pradesh.

Sembcorp has over 5,900 MW of power capacity installed and under development. NCCPP is jointly owned by Gayatri Energy Ventures and NCC Infrastructure Holdings (NCCIHL), a subsidiary of NCC (NCCL). Gayatri is Sembcorp?s project partner for another power plant in Nellore district of AP. Upon completion of the deal, Sembcorp will hold 45% stake of NCCPPL and the remaining 55% will be held by NCCIHL.

?We are certain that the project will immensely benefit out of this partnership and we will be able to start commercial operations as per schedule,” A Ranga Raju, MD, NCC. The company is now focused on finishing the execution work on the project and are hopeful of achieving the commissioning of the same on time. At present, the NCCPP project is about 30% completed and it is expected to come on-stream in early 2016, the release said. Capital Fortunes Private Ltd acted as the sole advisor to NCCPPL for this deal and had also handled the financial closure in early 2012 for NCCPPL with project cost of over R7,000 crore.

NCCPP?s upcoming plant is located on a site adjacent to Thermal Powertech Corporation India, Sembcorp?s first power plant investment in India.?The proximity of the two plants will enable Sembcorp to benefit from substantial synergies. The two plants will utilise the same infrastructure, such as that for coal importation and logistics. They will also be run by the same Sembcorp management team in Nellore,? the release said. Additional conditional agreements would also be signed to give Sembcorp the right and obligation to take an incremental 20% stake in NCCPP and an incremental 16% stake in TPCIL respectively, subject to and upon the respective projects having obtained requisite formal approvals by relevant authorities in India.

Financing for the project has also been secured, with 75% of the project cost funded through long-term limited recourse rupee-denominated project finance loans and the remainder funded by shareholders? equity. The project will be fuelled by both domestic and imported coal. It has already received a Letter of Allocation for its domestic coal supply from Coal India.

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First published on: 04-02-2014 at 03:42 IST
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