 "Indian state-run power companies close to buying Lanco asset for $365 mn")
Four Indian state-run power companies are close to buying a 1,980 megawatt stranded power plant from collapsed conglomerate Lanco Infratech for 30.2 billion Indian rupees ($364.84 million), outbidding Adani Group and Reliance Industries, three government sources said.
The state companies - Power Finance Corp Ltd (PFC), REC Ltd SJVN Ltd and Damodar Valley Corp (DVC) - aim to acquire the coal-fired power plant of Lanco Amarkantak in Chhattisgarh in central India, the sources said.
None of the companies provided any comment in response to requests from Reuters.
Lanco Amarkantak ran into financial difficulties after its Gurugram-based parent company Lanco Infratech collapsed. Lenders to the project, led by PFC, referred Lanco Infratech to insolvency proceedings.
This sale process marks the first time that power sector financiers PFC and REC have entered the bidding to take over management of a project and have outbid the big industrial conglomerates.
Only one of the three equal size units at the plant is functional, as the remaining two are still under construction.
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If the deal goes ahead, SJVN Ltd will be the majority shareholder in Lanco Amarkantak with 40%, while DVC will own a 10% stake, the sources said, adding that PFC and REC would continue to hold 25% each.
Power sector financiers PFC and REC are separately also working on setting up a project management subsidiary that will bid for stressed power assets with support from power developers like NTPC, SJVN and DVC.
($1 = 82.7770 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh. Editing by Jane Merriman)