JSW Energy eyeing distressed power plants - CFO

By Krishna N. Das

MUMBAI (Reuters) - JSW Energy is looking at various distressed coal-fired power plants in anticipation of demand improving, an executive said, amid talk the company is buying a big power plant from Jindal Steel & Power.

JSW Group Chief Financial Officer Seshagiri Rao said there were several attractive opportunities in the power sector hit by coal mine cancellations and heavy debt, but declined to comment on specific deals.

"JSW Energy has been evaluating various opportunities," Rao told Reuters on Monday at the company's headquarters in Mumbai. "There are so many assets available at attractive prices."

Two sources told Reuters last week Sajjan Jindal's JSW Energy is nearing a deal to buy a 1,000 megawatt (MW) plant from his brother's debt-laden Jindal Steel & Power for about $782 million as part of a plan to nearly triple its generation capacity in the next decade.

More than 40,000 MW of India's thermal power capacity is under stress because of weaker than expected demand, lower tariffs and the increasing debt burden of their owners, some of whom had to give up their coal mining licences following a court verdict on illegal allocation of coal fields.

But Rao said power demand would improve eventually as steel and other infrastructure sectors raise investments in one of the world's fastest growing economies.

"We are under no pressure to sign any deal but buyers have several options today," he said.

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; editing by Susan Thomas)