Indian Stock Market

Essar Power buys Navabharat Power

About Essar Power:

Essar Power Limited, a subsidiary of London-listed Essar Energy plc, is acquiring a 100% stake in 2250 MW Navabharat Power Pvt Ltd in Orissa. Essar Power plans to initially acquire a 76% stake, with the balance 24% being acquired upon completion of certain project milestones.

About NavaBharath coal power:

Navabharat is a joint venture between Malaxmi Energy Ventures and Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd. Navabharat has sold about 52% of its existing shareholding in Navabharat Power, the company informed the exchanges today. Malaxmi has sold its entire stake in the firm. The deal size was not disclosed.

About the power plant:

Navabharat Power, which has already got all major clearances and coal-linkages, is a 2,250 MW coal-fuelled power plant being set up in Dhenkanal district of Orissa, India. The $2 billion project is being implemented in two phases, with the first phase of 1,050 MW
and phase two of 1,200 MW.

The project includes the allocation of the Rampia Coal block of 112 million metric tonnes and a 4.7 million metric tonnes per annum coal linkage with Coal India Ltd. Phase 1 of the Navabharat already has in place a number of approvals including environment clearances and other approvals like land acquisition are being progressed. The phase 1 is expected to achieve financial closure by end of CY2010.

CEO Talk:

“Navabharat Power is a major part of our power phase II development projects. This acquisition is in line with the plans announced at the time of our IPO and will keep us on track to develop over 11,000 MW of power capacity by the end of 2014, thereby maintaining our leading position in the private sector power generation market in India,” said Naresh Nayyar, CEO of Essar Energy.

Capacity Expansion:

Essar Power, part of the telecom to steel conglomerate owned by the Ruias, is planning to expand its installed capacity to 6,000 MW by 2012, as per its website. It has three more coal-based power plants coming up in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Essar Power raised Rs 350 crore in funding from IDFC Project Equity last year.

Moser Baer PV on expansion again

I hold shares in this company.

Moser Baer PV, a subsidiary of Moser Baer India today said it would invest maximum of $125 million (about Rs 625 crore) for manufacturing solar photovoltaic cells this current fiscal year.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) cells convert solar radiation into direct current electricity.

“We would be investing about 100-125 million in the current financial year (2010-11),” Dr Rajiv Arya, CEO Moser Baer photovoltaic business told reporters here.

On its listing plans, Arya said a team in the company was working on it but it was difficult to say when it was likely to happen.

Moser Baer PV that has manufacturing facilities in Greater Noida (UP),Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Andhra Pradesh, says it will be reviving some of its expansion plans that it had previously postponed.

“We had put the expansion of our Chennai and AP plants on hold due to economic downturn but now we are reviving them,” he said.

The company currently manufactures 90 MW Polycrystaline PV cells and 50 MW thin-film cells.

L&T Power plans Rs.9000 crores fund raising for Rajpura, Punjab

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) will be raising Rs.9000 crores for its Rajpura thermal power project in Punjab. India’s largest engineering company will be raising this amount through its special purpose vehicles (SPV)- Nabha Power Limited. The state-of-the-art 1,320-mw mega thermal plant, which will come up in Rajpura is likely to be completed by January 2014.

Sources involved in the fund raising process told ET NOW that L&T is in talks with various banks & financial institutions for along term debt. The plant designed, developed and operated by L&T through its subsidiary Nabha-Power Ltd and will involve Rs 9,000-crore investment. L&T is setting up three power plants at a total cost f Rs 30,000 crore by 2015.

Jindal Steel and Power ( JSPL) a Jindal group company has targeted Zimbabwe’s ZISCO .

ZISCO:

Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company

Why ZISCO:

JSPL has set its sight on ZISCO to secure iron ore reserves in Africa. Jindal Steel was drawn to the deal because the government-owned Zisco owns iron ore reserves of 100 million tonne, said Africa business head Ashish Kumar. “Since we are already operating in Mozambique and South Africa, the acquisition of Zisco would give us a wider reach in the continent,” he said.

Zisco also owns a 0.8 million tonne steel plant, shut since 2008, and limestone reserves of 60 million tonne.
Mr Kumar declined to reveal the size of the deal, but steel industry experts pegged it at around $200 million. JSPL is expected to fund the transaction through a mix of debt and internal accruals.

Problem:

The JSPL deal, however, is subject to the Zimbabwe government clearing all outstanding liabilities of Zisco. “In our proposal, we have suggested a mechanism to the government to settle the existing debt,” said Mr Kumar.

The Zimbabwe government has been looking for a suitor for Zisco for sometime. It invited bids last October that attracted JSPL and ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker. The bids, though, were cancelled last month, reportedly on the pretext that the two entities were too big and the government was looking for a medium-sized investor for Zisco.

But worries over Zisco’s mounting debts forced the government to re-invite the steel companies. It is unclear if ArcelorMittal has submitted a bid again

If the deal Succeeds:

If the Zisco deal succeeds, it will be the latest in a string of foreign acquisitions in recent years that JSPL has concluded. The company acquired Oman-based Shadeed Iron & Steel for $464 million a few weeks ago.

Last October, it bagged a thermal coalmine in South Africa that has reserves of more than 50 million tonne. In 2006, JSPL secured rights to mine El Mutun iron ore reserves in Bolivia.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and Bechtel , US’s largest Engineering company may form a joint venture for venturing into Nuclear power in India.

This follows cancellation of all non compete clause between ADAG and Mukesh firms.

Actis is planning to buy power business of GVK .

Source: Business standard

Actis buys GVK Power

Private equity (PE) investor Actis is set to acquire a stake in infrastructure major GVK’s power business for about Rs 1,000 crore, according to sources close to the development.

The deal was close to being finalised and would be done over the next six-eight weeks, two sources involved in finalising the deal told Business Standard.
A GVK spokesperson refused to comment, while Actis did not respond to an e-mail query.

The UK-based PE fund could invest in the Hyderabad-headquartered company through its $750-million Emerging Markets Fund, with infrastructure in focus, said a person involved with the negotiations.

Actis, which focuses on emerging markets, had earlier talked about India having the highest share in its $2.9-billion global fund. Indicating a build-up in deals in the pipeline, Actis’ Partner and Head for South Asia JM Trivedi had told Business Standard the share of the company’s investment in India could go as high as $1.2 billion.

GVK’S POWER PLAN:

> Plans to expand capacity of the-264 Mw gas-based plant in Jegurupadu, Andhra Pradesh to 1,064 Mw

> Gautami Power (464 Mw) close to completion, plan to increase capacity to 1,264 Mw

> It is developing a 600-Mw coal-based project at Goindwal Sahib, Punjab

> Setting up two hydel power projects in Uttarakhand — a 330-Mw unit in Rishikesh and a 370-Mw plant at Goriganga
Actis has already partnered with Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL) to invest $200 million (around Rs 950 crore) into a joint venture that will focus on road construction. Actis has committed an investment of $77.5 million into the joint venture, TRIL Roads. The company has set a target to execute roads and highway projects worth $2 billion (around Rs 9,500 crore) in the next few years.

GVK, which has lined up a slew of power projects, would leverage the expanded equity base to raise debt for funding the projects, sources said. The infrastructure group is implementing power generation projects that will have a combined installed capacity of 2,900 Mw, and is also scouting for more opportunities across the country.

GMR Group, another South-based infrastructure company, recently raised $200 million from Temasek to finance its power sector plans. This was in addition to funds raised through qualified institutional placements.

L&T and Howden have signed a JV agreement for a business in india. JV has been signed to design , manufacture and supply axial fans and air heaters in india to indian thermal power plants.

The Joint Venture will invest around Rs. 100 crore  for setting up of the industrial facility and related infrastructure. The manufacturing unit will be set up in Hazira, Gujarat, and its operations are expected to commence in 2011. This strategic partnership allows L&T to join forces with a global technology leader, and offers Howden access to the fast growing Indian power plant equipment market.

The establishment of the JV represents a further strengthening of capabilities of L&T Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of L&T, which provides a one stop-solution for the Indian power generation sector. L&T also has joint ventures with MHI for the manufacturing of Super Critical Boilers, Steam Turbines and Generators. The manufacture of fans and air-heaters augments L&T Power’s portfolio of products from its own operations and operations of its existing joint ventures. With the combination of these joint ventures, L&T Power will have a distinct edge in the market for power plants.

The joint venture agreement was signed by Mr. Ravi Uppal, MD & CEO, L&T Power and Mr. Bob Cleland, CEO – Howden Global at Mumbai on May 04, 2010 in the presence of Mr. A.M. Naik, Chairman and Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro.

Commenting on joint venture, Mr. A.M. Naik said, “This JV marks another milestone for L&T Power. L&T is poised to emerge as India’s premier power sector company.”

Mr. Ravi Uppal, on signing the JV agreement said, “L&T and Howden possess complementary strengths and make a winning combination in the Indian power generation market. The agreement is a landmark for both organisations, and the JV will aim at delighting its customers with steadfast project management and products of superior technology. We are very happy to join hands with a global technology leader like Howden, and I’m sure this partnership will go a long way forward.”

Mr. Bob Cleland said, “India provides one of the major growth opportunities in the power generation market worldwide over the coming years, and Larsen & Toubro is one of the most respected companies in India. Further, Howden, with over one hundred years of experience in supplying fans and rotary heat exchangers to the power market, is the global market leader and supplies to over a hundred countries with a brand name respected the world over.

The combination of Larsen & Toubro and Howden in this new joint venture is a completely natural fit and opens up wonderfully exciting opportunities into the future.”

Press trust of India Release

State-owned Neyveli Lignite Corporation’s Rs 2,295.93-crore Mine II expansion project that would produce 4.5 million tonne annually was dedicated to the nation by Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal today.

The project, for which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone in February 2006.

Speaking on the occasion, Jaiswal said rapid growth of industries was required to achieve a 10 per cent GDP growth.

For this, creation of adequate infrastructure and use of modern technologies was essential, he added.

NLC officials said with the expansion, the Mine II production capacity had gone up to 15 million tonnes per annum.

The expanded mining area has an estimated lignite, a type of coal, reserves of 215 million tonne and the additional production of 4.5 million tonne would cater to the lignite requirement of 500 MW thermal power station II- expansion

Era power will start T & D business soon.

Era Infra Engineering today said it has forayed into power transmission and distribution (T&D) business and has a formed a new subsidiary – Era Power Ltd for the same.

“We see a good business opportunity in power T&D business as a number of companies are coming out in the country in the power sector,” Era Infra CMD HS Bharana told.

The company has entered into power T&D business through its wholly-owned subsidiary Era Power, the city-based infrastructure firm said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Era Power is setting up transmission tower manufacturing facility in Nagpur that is expected to be completed by the end of second quarter of the current fiscal, Bharana said.

The manufacturing plant at Nagpur is being developed at a cost of Rs 40 crore, he said. On revenue prospects from the new business, Bharana said the company’s entry in this new segment will help to generate more earnings.

“We expect an addition of nearly Rs 100 crore in the company’s revenue by the end of fiscal,” Bharana added. The company is also undertaking business of construction of power substations and execution of electrical transmission and distribution contracts.

L and T power , the power division of larsen & toubro India may soon start the process of IPO .

The company has plans to invest Rs.25000 crores in Power sector.

Thermal and Hydro will be the main areas.

Company plans to start bidding for power plants in future

Indosolar is going to launch an IPO to raise 400 crores .

Company plans pre placement of IPO with institutions for raising 125 crores.

Company is in the business of solar photovoltaic cells . Present capacity is around 80 MW . Company plans to expand production to 250 MW per year .

IPO allotment , placement and all other listinf information will be. updated soon.

News about TNEB Power purchase

With the power demand in the state poised to shoot up by nearly 8% this year, particularly during peak summer, the Tamil Nadu

Electricity Board (TNEB) will be forced to purchase power again and allocate funds for it from its limited resources.

While the power demand touched an all-time high of 9,000 MW last summer, this year it is expected to reach 10,000 MW, 2000 MW more than its generation capacity of 8,200 MW.

In the summer of 2009, the power demand in Tamil Nadu crossed 9,000 Mega Watts (MW), forcing TNEB to resort to power consumption curbs both in the domestic and industrial sectors. With an increase in consumer base, demand this year is expected to touch 10,000 MW.

“During December 2009 and till mid-January this year, we were able to manage the power situation, thanks to demand dipping due to rain and cold weather. We have prepared an approximate projection of power demand during summer. We plan to buy between 600 MW and 2,000 MW between January and May, based on demand,” said a senior TNEB official.

The official pointed out that since power demand in north India had shot up drastically, transmission lines were clogged. “The lines are blocked as the demand is more from different consumers in north Indian states. The western region is not able to send power through the lines; they may thus have surplus power.” He added that blockage of transmission lines in the north and surplus power in the western region had caused a dip in the power exchange rate.

“Earlier, the power exchange rate was Rs 8 per unit. Now it has dipped to Rs 4.50. So, we can purchase power for a low price,” the official said. He added that additional power supply for industry between 6pm and 10pm would start from January 18. “We will manage the situation this summer.”

Suzlon bags 21 MW order from Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals

This is a repeat order. Company has won similar order from the company in the past.

Suzlon energy won a 27 MW order from ITC.

Suzlon is the market leader for wind turbines in India

Suzlon RE Power wins US wind turbine order

Suzlon Energy said on Wednesday that its German unit REpower Systems has signed a contract to supply wind turbines with a total
capacity of 18.45 megawatts to US firm Heritage Sustainable Energy LLC.

Suzlon owns a majority stake in REpower, Germany’s third largest wind turbine maker. REpower’s US subsidiary clinched the deal.

The contract also provides an option to supply another 10 turbines with total capacity of 20 MW to the US firm.

The company did not disclose financial details of the order.

The turbines under the current order are expected to be installed by the third quarter of 2010, Suzlon said in a statement.