Reliance Power Ltd (RPower) is planning to raise nearly Rs 9,000 crore in what could be the country’s largest rupee-denominated loan this year to fund the Sasan and Krishnapatnam mega power projects. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani company, which is currently creating 28,200MW generation capacity, said the first unit of the Sasan project would be commissioned in December 2011 and the entire project was expected to be commissioned by March 2013.
For the 3,960MW Sasan project, the company has already awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract to Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.
RPower has received the Reserve Bank of India’s approval to raise $2 billion (Rs 8,500 crore) each in external commercial borrowings (ECBs) for both the Sasan and Krishnapatnam projects.
Sources here indicated that the rupee-denominated loan would form part of this fund-raising programme and the ECBs could be accordingly modified.
RPower has engaged the investment banking subsidiary of a state-owned bank to raise funds for the project. The loan, which will have a 15-year tenure, could be secured in a couple of months.
The company is also in negotiations with a few foreign banks to raise funds for the projects, sources said.
RPower, which came out with an initial public offering early this year, saw a fantastic response as it received subscriptions of over $100 billion from foreign investors. The company had mobilised nearly Rs 11,563 crore from the IPO.
There were 50 lakh retail applications in response to the IPO, making it one of the biggest in the world.
While the company fixed an issue price of Rs 450 per share, the issue had a dismal opening when it was finally listed on the bourses.
The company was forced to issue bonus shares to investors to compensate them for the losses they had suffered because of the fall in the stock price.
The RPower stock closed at Rs 166.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.
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