Tata Power eyes InterGen buy

Tata Group company and Ratan Tata-led Tata Power is mulling multiple acquisition opportunities overseas, including global power generation company InterGen and coal mines for ensuring raw material supply, a top company official said."We are looking at several acquisition opportunities, including InterGen," Tata Power Chairman Ratan Tata told shareholders at the 91st Annual General Meeting here.

Last week, media reports said the GMR group was planning to sell its 50 per cent stake in InterGen. GMR Infrastructure paid USD 1.1 billion in 2008 for the InterGen stake, which operates 12 power plants in the UK, Netherlands, Mexico, Australia and the Philippines.The company is also looking at acquisition of coal mines for ensuring raw material supply, Tata said.

The company already has a 30 per cent stake in two major Indonesian coal companies. The performance of the two Indonesian coal companies, PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin Indonesia, was robust in the 2009 calendar year, with output of 63 million tonnes as against 53 million tonnes in 2008.Coal prices have also shown a good recovery in FY'10 and it is expected that the strong trend will continue, the company said.The equity interest in the two Indonesian coal companies provides a natural hedge for the power business, which uses imported coal to contend with rising domestic prices, and will also ensure fuel supply security through offtake agreements, it said.