ACQUISITIONS
Marathon Power has signed an agreement to buy Essar Power for $170 million. The deal still requires the approval of the Gujarat Government and the Gujarat Electricity Board.
Essar Power owns a 515 MWe power plant at Hazira in Gujarat. The plant, sponsored by Essar Steel with a 42 per cent stake, Essar Oil with a 9 per cent stake and Prima Hazira with a 49 per cent stake, was commissioned in October 1997. The plant has a 20 year power purchase agreement with the Gujarat Electricity Board.
Meanwhile, Enron Corp has terminated an agreement to develop a power project the southern Indian state of Kerala. The company was intending to develop a 513 MWe plant with the KPP Nambiar Group but the US company determined that the project was not progressing with sufficient speed. Construction has not yet started.
And in another move, AES Corp has received approval from India’s Foreign Investment and Promotion Board to buy a 52 per cent stake in the Central Electricity Supply Co (CESCO) of Orissa. AES is to form a joint venture with the Indian company Jyoti Structures Ltd to invest $9.2 million for the stake in CESCO.