Disinvestment: JSPL to disinvest its thermal power business Jindal Power Ltd to cut carbon emission

New Delhi: Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) has announced the disinvestment of Jindal Power Limited, a material subsidiary company that deals in coal-fired power business, on Tuesday to reduce emissions and debt. In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges, JSPL said that it has accepted a binding offer from Worldone Private Limited to divest its 96.42 percent stake in Jindal Power Ltd. The disinvestment is in line with JSPL's strategic objective to continuously reduce its debt, focus on its India steel business and significantly reduce its carbon footprint by almost half as part of its ESG objectives. The equity value of the disinvestment deal is an all-cash offer of Rs 3,015 crore for 96.42 percent stake in Jindal Power, including 3,400 MW coal-fired power plants in the state of Chhattisgarh and other non-core assets owned by JPL.

 The disinvestment is subject to receipt of requisite approvals, including approval from shareholders of JSPL, approval from lenders of JPL and JSPL, and other statutory approvals, consents, permissions and sanctions as may be necessary in line with the extant relevant guidelines. Grant Thornton acted as the transaction advisor and ran a comprehensive sale process, reaching out to numerous national and international investors for the asset. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, India, acted as JSPL's legal advisor for the transaction.

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JSPL's Managing Director VR Sharma 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 the 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. We firmly believe in the India growth story and its potential to be an engine of global growth."

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