Jaiprakash to sell hydro plants to Reliance Power

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd on Monday said it plans to reduce debt by selling three hydropower plants to a subsidiary of Reliance Power Ltd, including two plants involved in a sale that collapsed last week.

The sale of Jaiprakash's entire hydropower portfolio, which has an aggregate capacity of nearly 1,800 megawatts, would make Reliance the country's largest private provider of hydroelectric power.

Jaiprakash in a statement said it has entered into an exclusive memorandum of understanding with Reliance CleanGen Ltd, which with Reliance Power is part of billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Group Holdings Inc.

Jaiprakash did not disclose the terms of the sale.

The announcement followed the collapse last week of a plan by Jaiprakash and parent Jaiprakash Associates Ltd to sell two of the three plants for $1.6 billion to an Abu Dhabi-led consortium.

Representatives of Reliance Power could not immediately be reached for comment.

Shares of Jaiprakash Power were 5.2 percent higher in early Monday trade, compared with a flat benchmark index. Shares of Reliance were up 2.4 percent.

(Reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Christopher Cushing)