Reliance Power surged 3% to Rs 93 on the BSE after Anil Ambani led Reliance Power on Sunday acquired debt-laden Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd's entire hydropower portfolio. This deal is expected to make Reliance Power the largest private hydropower provider in India with 7,800 MW operating capacity by end of FY15.
An R-Power statement said: "Reliance CleanGen has signed a memorandum of understanding with JVPL for acquisition of its entire hydroelectric power portfolio." SBI Capital Markets was the advisor for this transaction.
R-Power currently owns 5,000 MW of hydroelectric power projects under development. Of this, 4,200 MW are positioned in Arunachal Pradesh, 700 MW in Himachal Pradesh and 400 MW in Uttarakhand.
The development comes only three days after Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, or TAQA, pulled out of an agreement to acquire two of JPVL's hydropower plants, valued at Rs 9,689 crore.
Jaypee Group has been selling assets to reduce its debt of Rs 28,164 crore as on March 31. Its interest cost for 2013-14 almost doubled to Rs 6,094 crore from Rs 3,134 crore a year earlier.
Shares of Reliance Power opened at Rs 93, touched a high of Rs 94 and a low of Rs 92 on the BSE. A total of 1,147,157 shares have been exchanged on the BSE so far.
