Adani Close To Acquiring Anil Ambani’s Mumbai Power Business
The sale of Mumbai power business is expected to help Reliance Infrastructure pare its debt by 60-70 percent.
Adani Transmission is likely to clinch a deal to acquire Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.’s Mumbai power business much before the January deadline to mark its foray into power distribution.
Adani Transmission and Reliance Infrastructure have almost finalised the deal for an enterprise value of Rs 13,000-14,000 crore and the negotiations would not drag till the Jan. 15 deadline, an industry source privy to the development said.
The transaction would strengthen Adani Transmission's footprint in the power transmission sector and mark its foray into the distribution space, the Adani group firm had said earlier this month.
Reliance Infrastructure, on the other hand, wants to pare its debt. This deal is expected to help the company bring down its standalone debt of Rs 20,000 crore by 60-70 percent.
Earlier last month, the Anil Ambani company entered into a period of exclusivity until January 15, to discuss the sale of its integrated business of generation, transmission and distribution of power for Mumbai city to Adani Transmission. "It intends to utilise the proceeds of the proposed transaction entirely to reduce its debt, and further strengthen its financial position to tap mega growth opportunities in defence and EPC for the infrastructure sector," it said.
Earlier this month, Adani Transmission completed the acquisition of operational transmission assets of Western Region System Strengthening Schemes of Reliance Infrastructure for Rs 1,000 crore. In effect, its power-wheeling network crossed the 8,500 circuit kilometres.