IPCL to buy Andhra power plant from French firm

India Power Corporation Ltd has entered into an agreement with French power company ENGIE for acquiring the latter's 89 per cent stake in the south India- based 1,000 MW thermal power plant company Meenakshi Energy Pvt Ltd.

"We are yet to arrive at a valuation for the deal. It will be decided by taking into account the net worth, debt and future investment requirement. We are discussing all these aspects right now and we hope to conclude the deal in the next three months," IPCL chairman Hemant Kanoria said.

Meenakshi Energy (MEPL) has a net worth of Rs1,600 crore and a debt of Rs 3,000 crore on its books, he said.

MEPL has a coal-fired thermal power plant with 300 MW installed capacity and another 700 MW one which is under construction located in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, which is expected to be operational by December 2017, Kanoria said.

Formerly known as DPSC Ltd, India Power intends to close the deal in the next three months, following which Meenakshi Energy will become the subsidiary of the Kolkata-based company, he said.

Meenakshi Energy already has a fuel linkage from Coal India and a power purchase agreement with Andhra Pradesh for the 300-MW capacity plant which is already operational, he said.

India Power has an installed capacity of 112 MW, with another 450 MW thermal power plant under construction at Haldia in West Bengal. After implementation of the deal, the total capacity of the company would go up to around 1,550 MW, Kanoria said.