Public sector Power Finance Corp. (PFC) is in talks with several US-based private equity players as it looks to recast the India Power Fund it floated in 2004 to invest in power projects.
A senior PFC official, who did not wish to be named, as he is not authorized to speak on the subject, said the company was talking to funds such as Blackstone and Goldman Sachs among 8-10 others.
The corporation spearheads the government’s investments in power projects. Launched in 2004, the original India Power Fund had an initial corpus of Rs200 crore and was expected to eventually expand to Rs7,000 crore. However, as not too many projects took off between 2004 and 2006, the fund has languished somewhat. The official said, “initially, we will be setting up a company to advise hydro and thermal power projects. And once all the stakeholders have decided what kind of investments are required, then we will decide on the fund size. At that time we will also bring in the domestic players.”
PFC chairman V.K. Garg confirmed the company was talking to private equity players to raise an equity fund but declined to name any. He clarified the fund would be pure play equity investor in power projects that are set up during the 11th and 12th Plan periods. Under the 11th Plan, around 76,000MW of power generation projects are planned, which would require a mammoth investment of Rs10 trillion. ( Livemint)