Evonith Steel acquires 85MW Wardha power plant for Rs 232 crore

Nagpur: Evonith Steel completed the acquisition of Wardha-based Indrajit Power Pvt Ltd (IPPL), an 85 MW coal-based power producer, for Rs232 crore through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process, the company said on Friday.The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved Evonith as the successful resolution applicant on April 20. IPPL is located adjacent to Evonith's steel plant in Wardha. The proximity would help streamline logistics and reduce transmission losses, the company said.Evonith said the plant would meet a large part of its power requirement at competitive cost, including for its planned expansion. The IPPL acquisition is among the IBC-route deals concluded in Vidarbha's industrial belt in recent months, with the power plant set to feed directly into the adjoining steel complex rather than the open market.The company is an integrated steel producer with a capacity of 1.4 mtpa, with facilities at Wardha in central India near Nagpur, served by a captive railway siding.Evonith Steel chairman Jai Saraf said, "Steel plants are energy-intensive units and expanding our self-reliance on power sources will help ensure continuous and uninterrupted supply for our operations as we continue on our growth journey. We have plans to expand our production capacities further, and this acquisition is a critical step to ensure that our power requirements are met at competitive costs."Evonith Steel is a combination of Evonith Metallics Ltd (EML) and Evonith Value Steel Ltd (EVSL), which together form the steel complex at Wardha. EML supplies hot metal and pig iron to EVSL and third parties, while EVSL produces value-added flat steel products such as hot-rolled coils, cold-rolled coils, and galvanised coils and sheets. The company said it would also manufacture ductile iron pipes in due course.