Canada’s Ballard Power denies plans to acquire stake in Adani Power

Canadian hydrogen fuel cell products maker  Ballard Power Systems yesterday denied that it is planning to acquire a stake in an Indian company as rumoured in recent media reports.

"Ballard has no current plan or intention of effecting any such transaction and indeed, has not had any contact with the identified company," the British Columbia-based company said in a statement.

Citing an industry source,The Times of India,  yesterday reported that  Ballard Power is planning to acquire a 10-per cent stake in Adani Power, part of the $5-billion diversified Adani Enterprises Group, in a deal valued at around $500 million (Rs2,250 crore)

Ballard Power designs, develops, and manufactures zero emission proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells. The Canadian company has made a bus that uses only hydrogen fuel cells, which combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and water. 

Interestingly, this Toronto-listed innovative company has never reported an annual net profit since Geoffrey Ballard and Firoz Rasul founded the company in 1987, and has since made a little less of a billion dollars in losses over that period.

Reporting on the news, domain-b, in its report yesterday questioned how the company could muster up $500 million to invest in Adani Power. (See: Canada's Ballard Power plans buying 10 percent of Adani Power for $500 mln: report) 

Despite an increase in revenues from $46.7 million in 2009 to $65 million last year, Ballard Power has seen their bottom line shrink from a loss of $3.3 million to an even larger loss of $34.9 million in the same corresponding years.