Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd to sell power business to group company for Rs 1,800 crore

Indian sugar major Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd plans to sell its co-generation power business to group company Lalitpur Power Generation Company Ltd (LPGCL) for about Rs 1,800 crore.

The company's board today "considered approval of sale and transfer of co-generation power business of aggregating capacity of 449 MW located at 14 locations to LPGCL for a lumpsum consideration in cash of about Rs 1,800 crore as a going concern on slump sale basis in accordance with the business transfer agreement to be entered into with LPGCL."

In a filing to BSE, the company said: "Entire amount of cash consideration is proposed to be utilised by Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd towards advance repayment of its existing term debt.

The proposed sale and transfer of co-gen power business will be subject to approval of members, lenders and all other statutory/regulatory authorities,"

Bajaj Hindusthan has 14 sugar mills with cane crushing capacity of 1.36 lakh tonnes per day and alcohol distillation capacity of 800 kilo litres per day.

It has posted standalone net loss of Rs 137.71 crore for the second quarter of the current fiscal on high finance cost compared to Rs 282.72 crore loss in the July-September period of last fiscal.

Besides sugar, Shishir Bajaj-led Bajaj group has interests in power, ethanol, real estate, personal care products and infrastructure.

The group's power venture includes Bajaj Energy Pvt Ltd, with 450 MW thermal power generation commissioned in 2012 and the Lalitpur Power Generation Co Ltd with a total of 1980 MW thermal power generation capacity.