US bank buys 70% stake in SC Power Company

KATHMANDU, Sept 3:

An American investment bank has acquired 70 percent stake in SC Power Company which is developing Tila-1 (440 MW) and Tila-2 (420 MW) hydropower projects.

SC Power Company is jointly promoted by Bastola Organization and Indian investors.

Ram Chandra Bastola, CEO of Bastola Organization, said that InvestBank Corp acquired stake in the company on June 27. The issue came to light only after PRNewswire, a newswire based in New York, reported the story on Tuesday, he said.

"We have already exchanged documents to pass 70 percent stake to the US-based bank through emails. Formalization of ownership transfer, however, is yet to take place," said Bastola.

The cost to develop both the project has been estimated at US$ 649 million.

SC Power Company has applied at the Department of Electricity Development (DoED) to receive generation license for develop both projects. But the application is still under consideration as it has not submitted key documents like power purchase agreement or connection agreement.

Babu Raj Adhikari, information officer of DoED, told Republica that the developer company has also received permission to export electricity. It is holding negotiations with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to sell energy generated in dry months to the state-owned utility, according to Adhikari.

"We will issue generation license after the developer produces essential documents like PPA, connection agreement, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, among others," said Adhikari.

PRNewswire has quoted Maxwell Pedroza, an analyst at InvestBank Crop, as saying that they were excited to cooperate with Bastola Organization to develop these hydroelectric power projects.

Source: Republica