Adani power acquires 2 thermal plants from NCLT doorstep

New Delhi: The Ahmedabad bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved Adani Power Limited's (APL) takeover of insolvent entity Korba West Power Company Limited (KWPCL). KWPCL is located in Raigarh and has an installed capacity of 600 MW. The lenders of the insolvent entity have got only 32.84 percent of their claimed amount.

"Adani Power will endeavour to expand the capacity of KWPCL expeditiously, leveraging its project execution capabilities. Adani Power is also committed to seize further opportunities for capacity addition and provide much-needed energy security of India," the company said in an official release.

Adani Power has been expanding aggressively

Adani Power has been acquiring power plants and expanding its footprint in the power sector aggressively. Before KWPCL, APL had acquired GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd. (GCEL), which owns and operates a 1370 MW (two 685 MW) power plant in Raipur District of Chhattisgarh. With the recent acquisition, Adani Power has pushed its combined thermal power capacity by 19 percent to 12,410 MW.

KWPCL lenders demanded Rs 3,346 cr but got Rs 1,100 cr

In KWPCL's case, a total of 19 lenders, including Axis Bank, had claimed an amount around Rs 3,346 crores but got only Rs 1,100 crores, according to the NCLT order. The unsecured lenders, on the other hand, have been provided 100 percent of their Rs 1,685 crore claim under the approved plan.

This is for the first time under IBC that a group of unsecured or operational lenders received full claims. It is interesting to note that APL is one of the unsecured creditors of KWPCL. But in its resolution plan, APL has not specified 'period of payment.'