MUMBAI: Adani Group, India’s third-most valued conglomerate, has agreed to buy Essar Power’s transmission business in central India for Rs 1,913 crore. The deal will consolidate Adani’s presence in central India, while it will mark the exit of Essar from the power transmission business.
The asset transacted is an operational 400kv transmission line linking Mahan in Madhya Pradesh to Sipat pooling substation in Chhattisgarh. Essar Power will use the sale proceeds to pare its debt, which stands at Rs 6,000 crore. Three years ago, its debt was at the peak level of Rs 30,000 crore.
For Adani, the acquisition is in line with its strategy of inorganic growth and will ramp up the network of Adani Transmission (through which the Ahmedabad-based group has signed the agreement) to 19,468 circuit kilometres (ckm). Of this, 14,952ckm is operational, while the remaining 4,516ckm is under various stages of execution.
The group, led by Gautam Adani, has been making aggressive M&A moves in energy, building materials and travel services, among other segments. It announced purchases of Holcim India’s cement unit, Kohinoor basmati rice brand and SoftBank’s green energy portfolio.
