India's largest private sector power producer Tata Power Co Ltd has agreed to acquire a 50 per cent equity stake in Itezhi Tezhi Power Corporation Ltd (ITPC) from Tata Africa Holdings (SA) (Pty) for an undisclosed amount, as per a stock market disclosure.
Tata Power and Tata Africa, both part of India's diversified business conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd, have signed a share purchase agreement for formalising the proposed acquisition. Tata Africa is a subsidiary of the group's privately held trading firm Tata International. It was set up in 1994 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and serves as the headquarters for the multi-billion dollar group's operations in Africa.
ITPC, a 50-50 joint venture between the Zambian parastatal utility ZESCO Ltd (ZESCO) and Tata Africa, is a special purpose vehicle which has been set up to build and operate a 120 MW hydro power plant in Itezhi-Tezhi district in Zambia.
ITPC has a 25-year power purchase agreement with ZESCO, and is expected to commission the power plant in the last quarter of 2015.
At present, Tata Power is the country's largest private sector integrated power company with a growing international presence. The company, together with its subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities, has an installed gross generation capacity of 8,747 MW in India and a presence in all the segments—fuel security and logistics, transmission, distribution and trading. It is the most valued private power firm in the country.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
