Banks line up sale of KSK, Avantha plants; Adani, Vedanta frontrunners

By Neha Bothra

Domestic lenders are in a hurry to clean up their balance sheets in a bid to comply with RBI's August 27 deadline for resolution of stressed assets. SBI, India’s largest lender, along with other top banks have put two big stressed power assets on the block.

Sources told ETNOW that the lenders are eyeing sale of KSK’s Mahanadi plant and Avantha Power’s Jhabua plant, for which Vedanta and Adani Power are learnt to be frontrunners. The total deal size is pegged at Rs 11,500 crore.

The KSK Mahanadi plant owes around Rs 18,551 crore to domestic lender. The plant, with a capacity of 2400 MW, is expected fetch around Rs 9,500 crore. and

Avantha Power's Jhabua plant owes some Rs 4,300 crore to lenders and has a capacity of 600 MW. This power asset is likely to fetch around Rs 2,000 crore.

The lenders are expected to finalise buyers and conclude sales by end of August. When contacted, KSK Energy, Avantha, Adani and Vedanta did not react to the news.