JSW Energy in pact to buy Jaiprakash power plant

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - JSW Energy Ltd has signed an accord to buy a power plant from Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd, the companies said on Tuesday, as India's indebted corporations sell assets to repair their balance sheets.

JSW Energy and Jaiprakash Power have signed a binding memorandum of understanding for the latter's Bina power plant in Madhya Pradesh, the companies said in separate stock exchange filings, without specifying a deal value.

The Economic Times newspaper earlier on Tuesday reported JSW could pay about 35 billion rupees ($525 million) for the 500 megawatt power plant.

Under pressure from banks, Indian companies are trying to offload assets to pay back debts after an economic slowdown squeezed the cash flows needed to service their loans.

High levels of corporate debt, particularly in the infrastructure and power industries, have stopped companies from investing in new projects, holding back a recovery in Asia's third-largest economy.

Credit Suisse said in a research note in June that 37 percent of the Indian corporate debt it tracked was owed by companies which earned insufficient cash to cover interest payments in the quarter ending in March.

It estimated the debts of Jaiprakash Associates, the parent of Jaiprakash Power, at 753 billion rupees ($11.32 billion).

Jaiprakash Power last November agreed to sell two hydropower projects to JSW Energy, the company's first purchase of hydropower assets. The companies closed that deal on Tuesday.

JSW Energy will cross 5,000 megawatts in capacity when it concludes the Bina thermal power plant deal, Chairman Sajjan Jindal said in a statement.

Shares in Jaiprakash Power had jumped 6.3 percent by 2:30 p.m., while those in JSW Energy rose 6.2 percent.

($1 = 66.5450 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Biju Dwarakanath)