Jindal Steel & Power to sell stake in coal-fired power business for $400m

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) said that it has accepted a binding proposal to sell its stake of 96.42% in Jindal Power Limited (JPL), its coal-fired power business, to Worldone Private Limited for INR30.15 billion ($400 million).

Worldone is a company owned by Jindal Steel & Power’s promoter group.

The sale includes 3.4GW of coal-fired power plants in Chhattisgarh and other non-core assets owned by Jindal Power Limited.

Jindal Steel & Power said that the sale is in line with its strategic objective to continuously bring down its debt, and for focusing on its steel business in India. Apart from that, the company has also been looking to considerably lower its carbon footprint by nearly half as part of its ESG objectives.

Jindal Steel & Power to sell stake in its coal-fired power business – Jindal Power Limited for $400m to Worldone. Photo courtesy of MonikaP from Pixabay.

V.R. Sharma – MD of JSPL said: “This divestment is in line with our ESG objectives to be amongst the top 10 lowest Co2 emitting steel companies of the world. It is yet another step towards our vision to reduce debt substantially and create a robust balance sheet for our investors and stakeholders.

“Looking to the future, JSPL will be a key growth driver in the Indian steel industry and will now focus on undertaking expansion of its Angul steel plant from 6 MTPA to 12 MTPA. Infrastructure spending in India is bound to grow exponentially and JSPL is fully aligned with GoI’s vision of achieving 300 MTPA steel production by 2030.”

The sale is subject to requisite approvals, which include approval from Jindal Steel & Power’s shareholders, approval from its lenders and that of Jindal Power Limited.