Tata Power to sell defence business for $342 million

(Reuters) - Tata Power Ltd said on Thursday it will sell its defence business to Tata Advance Systems for 22.30 billion rupees ($342.21 million), as part of plans to monetise its non-core assets to improve the balance sheet. https://reut.rs/2uwgXdR

Tata Power's defence unit, Strategic Engineering Division, manufactures and assembles missile launchers, and electronic warfare equipment, night vision devices and gun systems.

The sale to the Tata Group's aerospace and defence arm comes at a time when the salt-to-software conglomerate is mulling ways to cut cross holdings in various group companies to consolidate the business.

Recently, Chairman N Chandrasekaran told an internal company magazine that many group companies needed to be streamlined, without losing their entrepreneurial spirit.

($1 = 65.1650 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru and Promit Mukherjee in Mumbai; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)