GMR exits Singapore power project for $532 million

MUMBAI (Reuters) - GMR Group said it would sell its 70 percent stake in the Island Power Project in Singapore to FPM Power Holdings for S$660 million.

The group will net a profit of 13.56 billion rupees from the sale, which it will use in its domestic energy business where it is currently developing power projects totaling 5,790 megawatts, GMR said in a statement on Monday.

The gas-fired Island project is currently 96 percent complete and is expected to start operations by end-2013, GMR said. Malaysia's Petronas holds the remaining 30 percent in the project.

Shares in GMR rose nearly 4 percent in a weak Mumbai market ahead of the deal announcement.

The cash-strapped Indian group has been looking to divest stakes in non-core assets since last year. Last month it sold a majority stake in a road project in India. GMR Infrastructure, a unit of the group, held net debt of nearly $7 billion at end-December and posted a net loss for the December quarter.

(Reporting by Prashant Mehra; editing by Jane Baird)