Malaysian co 1MDB & JSW Energy lead race for Lanco's Udupi power plant; deal valued at $1.1-billion.

State-owned 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the second-largest independent power producer in the Southeast Asian country, has emerged as the frontrunner to acquire Lanco Infratech's 1,200 mw coal-fired power plant at Udupi in Karnataka, underscoring the growing interest of global utilities in the battered Indian power sector.

The transaction, valued in excess of $1 billion, is poised to be the largest thermal power asset sale in the country and will help cash-strapped power and road developer Lanco pare debt, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the development said. Lanco's debt, taken on to build power plants and roads and to purchase overseas coal mines, has swelled more than fourfold since March 2010. Previous efforts to raise Rs. 4,150 crore by selling stakes in a subsidiary that owns stakes in its various power plants, road and renewable energy projects, to private equity funds haven't succeeded.

But 1MDB is jostling with Sajjan Jindal's JSW Energy Ltd., which has aggressively revived its interest in the coastal project after its first round of advance negotiations with Lanco's top brass fell through in early 2013.


ET