Reliance Industries, Adani Power, Oaktree Capital’s fund, O P Jindal promoted Jindal Power Ltd and a consortium of three state-owned entities – Power Finance Corporation, REC Ltd and NTPC Ltd – have submitted expressions of interest for Lanco Amarkantak Power – the distressed thermal power company undergoing insolvency proceedings, said people aware about the development.
The resolution professional, Saurabh Kumar Tikmani backed by KPMG, received 11 expressions of interest in all. Twin Star Technologies, an investment vehicle of Vedanta promoter Anil Agarwal and iLab India Special Situation Fund submitted an EoI each, people said.
The other applicants are Hindustan Thermal Projects Ltd; Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corp Ltd; consortium of KLJ Resources Ltd and KLJ Plasticizers Ltd; consortium of Power Mech Projects, Power Mech Infra, and Sudhakara Infratech Pvt Ltd; the people said. Oaktree has submitted EoI through its fund – India FPI XI Holdings Singapore Pte.
The RP, Reliance, Adani, Vedanta, Oaktree and Jindal Power did not respond to requests for comment.
This will mark an entry of Reliance Industries in coal-based power production in case they emerge as the winning bidder. In January, Reliance Industries has expressed intent to invest Rs 5 lakh crore over 15 years to set up 100 gigawatts of renewable energy.
Lenders restarted the sale process of Lanco Amarkantak Power after they rejected an offer from Vedanta last month. Vedanta offered nearly Rs 3000 crore to acquire the power company, one of the persons cited above said. This includes an Rs 800 crore cash balance in the company and a majority payment in form of non-convertible debentures to be paid over seven years, the same person said.
According to the company website, 17 lenders have admitted claims of Rs 14,632 crore. The share of PFC and REC itself accounts for 42% of the admitted claims. The PFC led consortium is expected to be the frontrunner for acquiring this project, according to the people cited above.
Lanco Amarkantak operates a coal-based thermal power project on Korba-Champa State Highway on 1337 acres of land. It has commissioned the first phase comprising two units of 300 megawatts each that are currently supplying electricity to Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh.
The second phase comprising another two units of 660 mw each is under construction while the third phase comprising 660 mw each has not yet started construction work, according to company’s website.