Tata Power is mulling acquisition opportunities abroad, including that of global power generation company InterGen, besides coal mines for ensuring raw material supply, a top company official said.
“We are looking at several acquisition opportunities including InterGen,” Tata Power Chairman, Ratan Tata, told shareholders at the 91st annual general meeting here today.
Last week, media reports said the GMR group was planning to sell its 50 per cent stake in InterGen. GMR Infrastructure paid $1.1 billion in 2008 for the stake in InterGen, which operates 12 power plants in the UK, Netherlands, Mexico, Australia and the Philippines.
The company is also looking at acquisition of coal mines for ensuring raw material supply, Tata said. The company already has a 30 per cent stake in two major Indonesian coal companies. The performance of two Indonesian coal companies, PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin Indonesia continued to be robust. The production during calender year 2009 was 63-million tonnes as against 53-million tonnes in 2008. The coal companies have continued to enjoy robust operational performance.
Coal prices have also shown a good recovery in FY ’10 and it is expected that the strong trend will continue, the company said.
The equity interest in the two Indonesian coal companies provides a natural hedge for the power business, which uses imported coal against rising coal prices.