R-Power in talks to sell 15 per cent stake to foreign investor

Reliance Power Ltd, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai  Ambani group, is in talks with five leading global power companies to sell 15 per cent equity stake in the company.  Preliminary talks have started with three Chinese power companies, which include China Light and Power Holdings, and French and Canadian companies.

Sources said Anil Ambani was in China last week to hold discussions with Chinese power companies for a possible stake sale. The company is willing to place the equity to one or two power companies.

R-Power needs over Rs 70,000 crore to develop 17 medium and large power projects--either directly or through subsidiaries-- with a combined planned installed capacity of 33,480 Mw.

A 15 per cent equity dilution would bring in around Rs 6,000 crore at the company's current market price.

The promoters hold 84.78 per cent in the company and the public 15.22 per cent following a mega initial public offer last year that netted the company approximately Rs 10,000 crore.

R-Power had also tried to divest 10 per cent to a strategic partner two years ago, but the deal did not materialise.

Asked about the new deal, a Reliance ADA group spokesperson declined to comment. CLP's India managing director Rajiv Mishra, however, denied discussions with R-Power. 

R-Power has identified projects in western India (12,220 Mw), northern India (9,080 Mw), north-eastern India (4,220 Mw), southern India (4,000 Mw) and eastern India (3,960 Mw).

Among these are eight coal-fired projects (18,580 Mw) to be fuelled by reserves from captive mines and supplies from India and abroad, two gas-fired projects (10,280 Mw) to be fuelled primarily by reserves from the Krishna Godavari Basin off the east coast of India, and seven hydroelectric projects (4,620 Mw), three of these in Arunachal Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand.

Three of these projects are Ultra Mega Power Projects, which were put up for bidding by the government as a means of bridging the growing power deficit. These include power plants of 3,960 Mw each at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand and a 4,000 Mw plant at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.