RPG Group company, CESC Ltd today said the company and its subsidiaries would raise around Rs 1,200 crore in equity to bridge the gap in financing to execute new proposed power projects worth Rs 35,000 crore in the next five years, a top company official said.
"We currently foresee a tentative gap of Rs 1,200 crore to execute our expansion plans worth Rs 35,000 crore in the next five years. We will look into all options," CESC Vice-Chairman Sanjeev Goenka said without giving a time frame for taking such a step.
"In the next five years, our plan is to have a capacity of 6,500 MW in thermal, 500 MW in hydel and 200 MW in solar energy through CESC and its subsidiaries. An investment of about Rs 3,5000 crore will be required to execute these," he said.
Goenka said, "In a 75:25 debt equity ratio, we will require around Rs 8,700 crore in equity to finance these projects. In the next five years, we hope to have Rs 5,500 crore through internal accruals and Rs 2,000 crore in private equity capital while rest would be raised in equity."
Currently, the company produces a total of 1225 MW from thermal plants in the state. CESC was planning new power projects in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Asked about private placement in Haldia Energy Ltd, a CESC subsidiary, in favour of PE funds, Goenka said. He expects a decision to be arrived at by January, 2011 and it will be less than 26 per cent stake.
Goenka had earlier said he was looking forward to raising about Rs 1,000 crore from PE funds in Haldia Energy and would be deployed to part finance 600 MW thermal power in Chandrapur, Maharashtra and 600 MW in Haldia, West Bengal
