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Amit Mitra

Mumbai Feb. 16

NEC Micon, the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of the Danish company Micon, the world's largest manufacturers of wind turbines, has tied up with ABG Heavy Industries Ltd, a major player in port and infrastructure development, for erection of the wind mills at different locations across the country.

ABG, which offers cranes and other port handling equipments to different Indian ports on lease or rental basis, will be deploying its mobile cranes to install the wind turbines that are being set up by NEC Micon.

Informed sources told Business Line that ABG, which is foraying into non-port and non-shipping areas for the first time, is in the process of procuring three mobile cranes at Rs 30 crore for executing the NEC Micon contract, apart from diverting 10 out of its 70-odd cranes. Two cranes have already arrived and the third is likely to join the company's fleet shortly, according to the sources.

Micon, which became the world's largest manufacturers of wind turbines after it recently merged with another Danish major Vestas, is at present sitting on orders worth Rs 600 crore for manufacture of wind turbines for different Indian companies. These will be installed at different wind farms located at Chittraurga near Bellari in Karnataka, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Gudimangalam and Rajahmndry in Andhra Pradesh, Bhuj in Gujarat and other places.

The tie-up between Micon and ABG is initially for a period of two years but it may be extended as new wind farms come up. ABG is working out the logistics to move its cranes from one location to another.

ABG, which has recently implemented a financial restructuring programme, is also planning to foray into overseas port infrastructure development projects, especially as the switching over from BOLT projects to BOT projects by Indian ports has put a cap on its fresh market growth.

The company feels that there was a potential market for leasing out of cargo handling equipment in Indonesian and South African ports. "We are planning to tie up with some local companies in those countries to firm a joint venture to bid for port infrastructure development projects there," a company official said.

ABG is also planning to invest in development of modern container freight stations, tank terminals and warehouses. After opting out of the PSA-led consortium that is in the race for the Rs 1,000-crore third container terminal project at Jawaharlal Nehru Port, ABG is now eying the Rs 200-crore Kandla box terminal project at Kandla port, which has recently invited expression of interest bids from private terminal operators.

As part of the company's financial restructuring programme, the company has pre-paid high cost debt of Rs 44 crore to ICICI and IDBI bank, which has brought down its rate of interest from 16 per cent to 11 per cent. "This decline in interest rate is expected to increase the company's returns from Rs 11 crore last fiscal to Rs 14 crore this fiscal," the official said.

More Stories on : Alliances & Joint Ventures | Engineering | Non-conventional Energy

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