JSW buys GMR Energy’s thermal plant in Kamalanga for `5,320 cr JSW given immunity from BPSL misdeeds

New Delhi, Feb. 17: Billionaire Sajjan Jindalled JSW Energy on Monday said it will buy GMR Energy Ltd's 1,050 MW thermal power plant in Odisha for Rs 5,321 crore.

JSW Energy signed a share purchase agreement to acquire 100 per cent of GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, which owns and operates a 1,050 MW (3x350 MW) thermal power plant in Odisha, for Rs 5,321 crore (subject to working capital and other adjustments), the company said in a statement.

"Post-acquisition, the total installed power generation capacity of the company will increase to 5,609 MW," it said.

The buyout will expand JSW Energy's presence in the eastern region of the country and further diversify its fuel mix and offtake arrangements.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals for its completion.

Of the Rs 5,321-crore enterprise value of GKEL, JSW Energy will pay the promoters Rs 755 crore in upfront cash and another Rs 615 crore on achieving different milestones. The balance Rs 3,951 crore is on account of GKEL’s debt that JSW Energy is taking over.

GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd (GKEL), a subsidiary of GMR Energy, owns and operates three units of 350 MW at Dhenkanal in Odisha.

JSW Energy, as part of its strategy for expansion and consolidation in the power sector, has been scouting for strategic assets.

"Consequent to the acquisition, GKEL will be a 100 per cent subsidiary of JSW Energy," it said.

The deal is subject to the approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and GKEL lenders. Also, Haryana, which buys power from Kamalanga, has to approve of the power purchase agreement.

GKEL had a revenue Rs 2,195 crore in FY2019.

It sells 263 MW of electricity generated to Odisha for Rs 3.11 per unit and another 283 MW to Bihar at Rs 3.39 a unit. To Haryana, it sells 334 MW at Rs 2.89 per unit. of

—PTI

New Delhi, Feb. 17: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Monday gave JSW Steel Ltd immunity from all criminal investigations after its takeover of Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, whose assets were sought to be attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over alleged bungling by the former management.

A two-member NCLAT bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya also declared attachment of assets of insolvent Bhushan Power & Steel (BPSL) by the ED as "illegal and without jurisdiction".

JSW Steel had moved the NCLAT seeking to extinguish all present and future liabilities on account of criminal investigations against BPSL, contending that an absence of any such protection would jeopardise the feasibility and viability of its resolution plan.

JSW Steel had made the highest bid of Rs 19,700 crore for BPSL.

While the government had in December amended the insolvency law to ringfence a corporate debtor, after its takeover in a bankruptcy auction, from criminal proceedings arising from offences committed by the previous management, the ED argued that immunity is not retrospective in nature and does not cover companies whose resolution plan was approved prior to the law.

The bench rejected ED's contention that recent amendments in the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code by the government by inserting section 32A would not apply to JSW retrospectively and said the ordinance was clarificatory in nature and it was "ex facie evident" that it must be made applicable retrospectively. "We hold that the assets of the corporate debtor (BSPL) of which JSW Steel Ltd is a 'Successful Resolution Applicant' is immune from attachment by the Directorate of Enforcement," the NCLAT said. —PTI