Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar to sell co-generation power operation for Rs 1800 cr, shares surge 10%

NEW DELHI: Shares of Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar advanced as much as 10 per cent in afternoon trade on Tuesday after the company informed the bourses that it had approved sale and transfer of its co-generation power business of 449 MW total capacity at 14 locations to Lalitpur Power Generation Company, a group company, for a lumpsum consideration in cash of around Rs 1,800 crore.

The entire amount of cash consideration is proposed to be utilised by Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar towards advance repayment of its existing term debt. The proposed sale and transfer of the co-generation power business will be subject to approval of members, lenders and all other regulatory authorities.

However, shares of Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar wiped off most of their intraday gains and were trading 2.09 per cent higher at Rs 13.65 at around 1.30 pm.

The scrip opened at Rs 13.40 and touched a high and low of Rs 14.74 and Rs 13.05, respectively, in trade so far. BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 80 points, or 0.30 per cent, down at 26,285.

Net loss of the company for the quarter ended September 30, 2016, narrowed to Rs 137.71 crore compared with a net loss of Rs 282.72 crore reported for the corresponding quarter last year. However, total income from operation for the quarter increased 13 per cent to Rs 906.44 crore from Rs 801 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

In last one year, share price of Bajaj Hindusthan has slipped 23 per cent till December 19, whereas BSE Sensex gained 2 per cent during this period.