IndiGrid, a listed infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) for power transmission lines, on Friday, said it has executed share purchase agreement for the buyout of power transmission line operator Jhajjar KT Transco Pvt Ltd, for about ₹310 crore, from Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd and Techno Electric & Engineering Company Ltd.
The transaction is expected to be completed over the next few months, the company said in a statement.
Funded through a mix of debt and internal accruals, the deal will boost IndiGrid’s assets under management (AUM) to about ₹12,300 crore ($1.6 billion). After the deal, its portfolio will increase to 10 power transmission projects with a total network of 23 power transmission lines that span over 6,000 circuit kilometers across 14 states.
“This acquisition is in line with our strategy to acquire accretive operational assets with long term and stable cash flows thereby growing returns for unitholders,” said Harsh Shah, chief executive officer of IndiGrid.
“Apart from third party opportunities available in the Indian transmission sector, IndiGrid has another ₹6,500 crore (about $865 million) pipeline of transmission projects under the framework agreement with Sterlite Power providing visibility of about $2.4 billion ( ₹18,000 crore) of AUM over the next two years,” he added.
A special purpose vehicle owned by Kalpataru Power and Techno Electric, Jhajjar KT consists of three 400 kilo-volt (kV) transmission lines spread across 103 kilometres (km) in Haryana and two sub-stations with a transformation capacity of 830 mega volt ampere (MVA). The Chandigarh-based firm operates strategic assets for power distribution companies in Haryana, which were awarded on a ‘design build finance operate and transfer’ basis with a contractual period of 25 years and a provision of further 10-year extension. So far, the project has been operational for eight years and has a receivable cycle of less than a month. Further, the firm also operates the key evacuation transmission system from the 1,320 mega-watt thermal power plant in Jhajjar.
This acquisition marks IndiGrid’s second such deal with the Kolkata-based Techno Electric, an engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) firm in power sector. In August 2018, IndiGrid had acquired Patran Transmission Co Ltd, which consists of 400/ 220 kV substation having 1000 MVA transformation capacity with 14 bays in Patran, Punjab and LILO (line in line out) of both circuits of Patiala-Kaithal 400 kV double circuit triple snow bird line of 5 km at Patran.
Cyril Amarchand and Mangaldas was the legal advisor to IndiGrid for this transaction.