Adani Capital along with Adani Green Power is in race to buy PTC India Ltd’s 64.99 per cent stake in subsidiary PTC India Financial Services Ltd (PFS).
The last day for submission of interest by bidders is July 31, 2020. The successful bidder’s name is likely to be announced in a month. According to banking sources, at least six players have evinced interest for the stake and the Adani group entity is one of the favourites to win the bid. Power Finance Corporation is also believed to be interested, sources said.
PFS, which is registered with the Reserve Bank of India as an “infrastructure finance company”, lends primarily to sectors such as renewable energy, transmission, road HAM (hybrid annuity model) and other annuity projects. It also provides non-fund-based products and services to companies in the power sector.
With the Adani Group is betting big on both the infrastructure and finance services space, the bid for PFS could help it grow business in inorganically. When contacted Adani Group declined to comment.
For PFC, which is a specialised financial institution in the power sector, the PFS acquisition could be synergistic.
As at March-end 2020, the total outstanding credit of PFS — aggregate of loan assets and non-fund based commitments against sanctioned loans, stood at ₹11,394 crore.
Loan assets aggregated to ₹11,005 crore and outstanding non-fund based commitments aggregated to ₹389 crore.
Re-initiating divestment
In a regulatory filing on July 17, 2020, PTC India said it wanted to divest its controlling stake in PFS and invited potential purchaser(s)/investor(s) to submit their interest.
PTC India’s Board of Directors had originally recommended the proposal regarding dilution of the company’s holding in subsidiary PFS to the shareholders in August 2019.
“Subsequent to delays on account of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, requisite internal approvals have been received to re-initiate the process of exploring opportunities for monetizing the company’s investment in PFS,” the company said in a recent filing. PTC India did respond to mail sent by BusinessLine .