Maytas Infra sells its stake in UP project to joint venture partners

Infrastructure firms Gayatri Projects Ltd and Nagarjuna Construction Co Ltd are jointly buying cash-strapped Maytas Infra Ltd's 30-per cent stake in Western UP Tollway Ltd, the special purpose vehicle of the three companies created to execute the Rs534 crore Meerut-Muzaffarnagar road project in Uttar Pradesh.

All three infrastructure players are from Hyderabad. ''Maytas Infra was finding it difficult to execute some of the projects that were awarded to it, including those in consortium, and we are picking up their stake in western UP project,'' Gayatri Projects' managing director T V Sandeep Reddy told reporters on Wednesday.

Gayatri will invest Rs25 crore for a 9-per cent stake in the special purpose vehicle, increasing its holding to 49 per cent from 40 per cent, said Reddy. Nagarjuna Construction will enhance its holding to a majority stake of 51 per cent from the existing 30 per cent.

The consideration for the transaction for Gayatri is expected to be in the range of Rs 20-25 crore. "We are still working out the modalities. The nitty-gritty of the deal would be decided shortly," Reddy said.

The project, which is expected to commence operations from March 2010, would fetch a toll of about Rs19 crore in the first year of operations. The project has a concession period of 20 years, with a grant from the National Highways Authority of India.

Maytas, founded by tainted Satyam Computer Services' founder B Ramalinga Raju's son Teja Raju and other family members, has been facing difficulties in finding funds to execute the projects it had bagged orders for, after the lid came off the Satyam scam.