Adani Transmission rating unaffected by asset purchase: Fitch

Adani Transmission Ltd's (ATL) rating will not be affected by its planned acquisition of three transmission assets of Reliance Infrastructure for over Rs 2,000 crore, Fitch Ratings said today.
"The agency expects ATL's financial profile to remain in line with its expectations in the medium term, although the headroom will be limited," the rating agency said in a statement.
RInfra had said on Wednesday that it has signed a binding term sheet agreement to sell its power transmission assets to Adani group firm Adani Transmission (ATL) for over Rs 2,000 crore to cut debt.
The global agency said that the three assets being acquired are regulated by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and benefit from a payment security mechanism. Under the mechanism, tariffs are collected by the central transmission utility and distributed in proportion to annual revenue requirement of each transmission licensee, which minimises bilateral counterparty risk.

ATL remains exposed to the financially weak power utilities that are owned by Maharashtra. These utilities account for around 60 per cent of ATL's transmission asset-related revenues.
However, the latest acquisition and the commissioning of new projects will over the time reduce ATL's exposure to Maharashtra's state-owned power utilities.
ATL expects to complete the transaction by 2017, subject to the necessary statutory and regulatory approvals.