PTC India in talks with sovereign wealth fund for PE venture

Power trading firm PTC India is in talks with a sovereign wealth fund for setting up a private equity fund, which is likely to have an initial capital of about $100 million.

Sources said PTC India is looking to float a private equity fund and is in advanced talks with a sovereign wealth fund. To begin with, the PE fund would at least have $100 million as capital, they said.

However, they did not disclose further details.

The new fund is likely to be floated sometime next fiscal, sources added.
    
The firm already has a subsidiary PTC India Financial Services (PFS), which lends to power sector including renewable energy projects.
    
In May 2010, PTC India had announced the launch of an infrastructure fund in a joint venture with specialist emerging markets asset manager Ashmore.
    
PTC Ashmore India Energy Infrastructure Fund, which was to provide equity financing to power projects, did not take off due to various reasons.
    
PTC India has entered into Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for over 15,000 Mw, including 1,416 Mw of cross border projects.
    
In November, PTC India said that around 1,500 Mw capacity is expected to be commissioned in FY13 while about 4,500 Mw to be ready in FY14.
    
PTC India's profit after tax surged over 19% to Rs 80.80 crore in the six months ended September 30.
    
The entity's trading volumes had surged 34% to 24,481 million units in the last fiscal.