Air India to raise $250 mn through sale-and-lease-back of 2 Dreamliners
State-owned carrier Air India has put on sale two more Dreamliners (Boeing 787—800) to raise $250 million (nearly Rs. 1,700 crore) for the repayment of short-term loan obtained earlier for purchasing these planes. The airline would also lease back these two Boeing 787—800s under an operating lease for a period of up to 12 years with a three—year extension option, the airline said in its Invitation of Offers document. These two aircraft were delivered to Air India between November last year and January this year. Under a Sale and Lease Back (SLB) arrangement, the seller of an asset leases it back from the purchaser for a long—term period and continues to use it without actually owning it. The airline has fixed a reserve purchase price at USD 125 million (Rs 836 crore) for each aircraft. Currently, the airline has 23 Dreamliners in its fleet. The airline has already sold and leased back the remaining 21 Dreamliners under the SLB arrangement. As part of its fleet expansion plan, the national carrier had in 2006 placed orders with Boeing for 68 aircraft —— 27 Dreamliners, 15 B777—300ERs, eight B777—200LRs and 18 B—737—800s. The sale and lease back transaction will be supported by the Government of India guarantee in favour of the bank/ institution/lessor, according to the document. Bo Scarbrough Jersey
Solar tariff crashes below grid power cost
Solar power tariff is likely to come down closer to the cost of conventional power sources due to technological advancement and increase efficiency. Recently, Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd (RUMSL) has bid a record low tariff of Rs 3.3/kwh — levelised over power purchase agreement PPA period of 25 years — for a 750 MW plant through a reverse-auction. Solar power prices have been coming down over the years from `6.5 per kilowatt hour (kwh) or a unit in 2014 to Rs 5/kwh in 2016. As against this, the average feed-in tariff for wind energy and competitively bid thermal tariff (in the last 24 months) remains at `4.8/kwh and `4-5/kwh respectively. According to ICRA, solar photovoltaic (PV) projects are also more attractive with their relatively shorter construction periods within the renewable energy segment, while conventional thermal projects face much higher execution risks because of the possible delays in acquiring land and statutory clearances. However, this competitiveness was predicated on the state government’s guarantee for the contracted capacity by power utility in the Madhya Pradesh and provision for providing compensation for the deemed generation in case of non-availability of grid which in turn provide a mitigation against counter-party credit risk and the risk of grid back down to a large extent, respectively. This coupled with a 30 per cent drop in the solar photovoltaic module price level and scale benefits arising from location in a solar park with relatively lower execution risk profile favour project developers. Private developers will have to depend on timely long tenure debt (up to 18-20 year after the project completion date) at cost-competitive rates as well as their ability to keep the cost of PV modules within the budgeted levels to achieve the Rs 3.3/kwh and improve the plant load factor level, says ICRA. Gustav Forsling Authentic Jersey
Petronas considers $1 billion stake sale in offshore gas project
Malaysian state-owned oil and gas firm Petronas is aiming to sell a large minority stake in a prized upstream local gas project for up to $1 billion as it seeks to raise cash and cut development costs, two sources familiar with the matter said. Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is looking to sell a stake of as much as 49 percent in the SK316 offshore gas block in Malaysia`s Sarawak state, the sources told Reuters, a move that would be among its first major recent sales as it grapples with oil prices that have slumped by half over two-and-a-half years. That slide has squeezed the cash flows of Petronas, hurt its earnings and forced it a year ago to announce a 50 billion ringgit ($11.2 billion) cut in capital expenditure over four years. Petronas, which accounts for a third of Malaysia`s oil and gas revenue, has also cut its dividend. Sources had told Reuters in September it is considering selling its majority stake in a $27 billion Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, although the company denied it. It is now working with an investment bank on the SK316 gas block stake sale and kicked off the process this month, one of the sources said. Petronas did not respond to a request for comment. Petronas is currently gauging interest from potential buyers, said the sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak about the matter. Gas from the NC3 field in the SK316 block feeds Malaysia`s LNG export project, known as LNG 9, Petronas` joint venture with JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp that started commercial production in January. The sources said the stake is expected to include a combination of the producing NC3 gas field, the potential development of the Kasawari field in the same block and other exploration acreage in the block. The funds raised could contribute to the future development of the Kasawari field, one of the largest non-associated gas fields in Malaysia, which has an estimated recoverable hydrocarbon resource of about three trillion standard cubic feet. Petronas put on hold plans to develop the field in 2015 after oil and gas prices fell, according to media reports. Prasanth Kakaraparthi, senior upstream research analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie said overall capital expenditure for the 316 block is estimated at around $4 billion, of which the upcoming phase of development accounts for nearly 50 to 60 percent. “Given that the second phase of development will involve a significant amount of capital commitment, it`s not completely out of the question to think that they might want to bring in some partners to sort of share some of that burden,” he said. The stake could appeal to firms such as Indonesia`s state-owned Pertamina, Thailand`s PTT Exploration and Production PCL and some Japanese companies, the sources said. They said it might also appeal to the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, which snapped up Royal Dutch Shell`s stake in Thailand`s Bongkot gas field for $900 million last month. A PTTEP official said the company is keen to invest in Southeast Asia but did not specify if it will invest in the SK316 block. Pertamina did not immediately provide a comment. As huge production comes online in Australia and the United States, LNG markets are oversupplied, resulting in an almost 70 percent slump in Asian spot LNG prices since 2014. Despite this, Malaysia’s LNG assets are viewed as attractive thanks to comparatively low production costs and due to their proximity to North Asia`s big consumption hubs of Japan, China, and South Korea. Mark Barberio Womens Jersey
Toll Operators Yet To Get Compensation For Demonetisation Loss
For 23 days after the prime minister announced the demonetisation exercise on November 8, toll collection remained suspended across the country. It has been two months since collections resumed but operators are yet to be compensated for their losses as promised by the government. “No, we haven’t received anything yet. Whatever we have lost (during demonetisation), has to be compensated. The fight is still on,” said Isaac George, director and CFO, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd. that runs the Jaipur-Kishangarh and Deoli-Kota expressways in Rajasthan The Ministry of Roads, Transport, and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had decided to make the national highways toll-free to give relief to commuters facing cash crunch after the note ban. The government had then decided that the toll concessionaires would be reimbursed up to 75 percent of the total loss in collection. Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman, Feedback Infra, an infrastructure services provider, also tweeted that toll companies are yet to get compensation. Feedback Infra advises infrastructure companies like Larsen & Toubro, Indian Railways and Metro Rail. MEP Infrastructure & Developers Ltd., which operates 25 toll plazas across seven states, including all five entry points into Mumbai, has claimed about Rs 48 crore but hasn’t received anything, the company said in an email. IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., which runs the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, has claimed Rs 150 crore as toll revenue loss due to demonetisation, the company had said in a post-earnings conference call with analysts. Virendra Mhaiskar, chairman and managing director of the company, had said that the NHAI would reimburse interest expense and operation and maintenance revenue loss in cash. The profit and principal amount repayment would be compensated by extending the concession period, he had said. Mhaiskar had said the company would receive full cash reimbursement from the Maharashtra government as part of the concession agreement. When contacted by BloombergQuint, IRB Infrastructure refused to comment on the story. GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd., however, wants full compensation in cash. The company has claimed about Rs 22.5 crore as total revenue loss during the demonetisation period. Issac George said the government has gone back on its word and has agreed to pay only the operation and maintenance costs instead of the total revenue loss. GVK Power wants more clarity from the government on the compensation, George added. Korbinian Holzer Authentic Jersey
Nitin Gadkari-led road ministry’s highway construction woefully slow at 18-23km/day; required target 41 km/day
The pace of highway construction has gathered momentum to reach at an average of 18.23 km/day till January-end of the current fiscal compared with 16.6 km/day in the 2015-16 fiscal. The pace, however, is still way lower than what is required to meet the construction target of 41 km/day set by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) for this fiscal. Nitin Gadkari has recently said the pace of construction could reach to 30 km/day by March this year. The ministry has targeted to build 15,000-km highways in the current fiscal. In 2015-16, total highways construction was 6,061 km only. It has built 5,471 km highways in the April-January period of the current fiscal. Of the total construction till January-end, projects directly implemented by MoRTH was 3,466 km, against 3,217 km a year ago. NHAI constructed 2,005 km in the first ten months of this fiscal, compared with 1,532 km in the corresponding period last fiscal. Apart from the continued torpor in private investments — build–operate–transfer (BOT) projects have barely kicked off and the hybrid annuity model that mitigates developers’ risk too has seen only moderate success — over-optimistic targets were also to blame for the slippage, analysts said. This year’s construction target is 2.5 times what was accomplished last year. On the award front also, the 25,000-km target for the current fiscal is unlikely to be met, as only 8,183 km of project awards were made in April-January. The ministry is now hoping to award 15,000 km projects in the current fiscal. In the last fiscal, India had awarded 10,098 km highway projects. While NHAI awarded 2,912 km projects in April-January of FY17 compared with 3,145 km a year ago; MoRTH awarded 5,271 km against 4,495 km a year ago. Maximum projects (6,187 km) has been awarded through the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model while the remaining, 1,996 km, through the BOT (toll), BOT (annuity) and HAM models, sources said. Clearly, with private investments (read BOT projects) not gathering much steam, the Centre’s efforts to push activity in the sector with the use of its own funds (EPC projects) have brought only moderate results. The construction and award of highways in the April-January period this year was higher than a year ago by 15% and 7%, respectively. Gadkari had earlier blamed procedural delays in getting clearances for delay in project awards. The government has taken several steps to address the private investment famine in the sector: It eased the exit policy for developers to enable them invest in new projects and introduced the hybrid annuity model where the Centre bears 40% of the project cost. Russell Wilson Authentic Jersey
NHAI to float bids for monetising 10 projects by April
Buoyed by response from institutional investors from the Middle-East, Canada and the US, NHAI plans to come out with bids for monetisation of 10 out of 75 public-funded national highway projects in the first phase. The move follows the government’s decision in August last year authorising the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to monetise public-funded highway projects in the country. “Bids are likely to be out by April inviting tenders for monetisation of at least 10 projects on toll operate transfer (TOT),” a senior NHAI official told PTI. The official said 10 such projects out of a basket of 75 have been identified for monetisation and several investors, including Canadian Pension Fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Fund and those from the US, Europe and Singapore, have shown keen interest in buying them. “Investors are keen on our projects and we are going to bid out the same,” the official said. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has earlier told PTI that monetisation of public-funded highway projects could result in funds in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh crore initially. Ever since the government’s nod for monetisation, NHAI has been conducting traffic studies related to such projects, the revenue streams available and their overall viability. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on August 3 last year had authorised NHAI to monetise the public-funded highway projects for mobilising funds. Close to 75 operational NH projects completed under public funding have been preliminarily identified for potential monetisation using the toll operate transfer (TOT) Model. The corpus generated from proceeds of such project monetisation could be utilised by the government to meet its fund requirements regarding future development and operation and maintenance of highways in the country and could address development of highways in unviable geographies. Market feedback indicates that certain institutional investors from outside the country have long-term investment appetite and are keen to participate in operational highway projects with stable toll revenue outlook. These investors generally hesitate from taking construction risk, but are willing to look at de-risked Brownfield road assets, the government has earlier said. Jesper Fast Womens Jersey
Aerospace engineering co Aequs to set up ₹500-cr facility in Goa
Aerospace precision engineering and manufacturing company Aequs announced at Aero India 2017 that it is setting a dedicated facility for Indian defence production in Goa. The company’s multi capability aerospace and defence manufacturing facility will come up at Tuem, Goa. Aequs, which entered into the defence manufacturing business in 2013, has been actively looking for opportunities to partner with many India’s R&D organisations and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Since then, Aequs has been working with HAL on machined structural parts for various platforms, including Light Combat Aircraft, Sukhoi 30MKI, ALH, among others. “This is the first venture in the private sector, which will manufacture high-end components and systems for aerospace and defence sector and support the ‘Make in India’ initiative,” Aravind Melligeri, Chairman and CEO, Aequs said. The new facility will be set up with an initial investment of ?500 crore towards development of physical infrastructure, plant, machinery and equipment and is strategically located at the Industrial cluster (EMC). Melligeri said the new facility will be a multi-capability precision engineering with Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines and new age technology to design and produce precision components for the Indian Defence sector. Aequs Aerospace is headquartered within the Aequs Special Economic Zone, Belagavi. Generating jobs “It will also support the ‘Skill India’ initiative by upskilling employees in the fields of precision manufacturing and other new age technologies, thus bringing a key capability in aerospace manufacturing in the country,” he added. The company sees more technology transfers taking place from aerospace giants around the globe adding further to our manufacturing capabilities, besides generating employment to close to 2,000 people. Ameya Abhyankar, Secretary and Director, Information Technology, Goa said: “To support our robust growth and expansion in the aerospace and defence sector, we are happy to host Aequs’s manufacturing facility in Tuem, Goa.” Ed Dickson Womens Jersey
India’s first dedicated heliport to open in Delhi on February 28
The capital will soon get India’s first dedicated “heliport” for flying in and out of Delhi to nearby areas in choppers. Aviation secretary R N Choubey said the Rs 100-crore project will be inaugurated on February 28 and will be an integrated one with a chopper maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit part of the complex at Rohini. Owned by Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (PHHL), the hugely-delayed heliport will have a large number of parking bays and an AC passenger terminal building with car parking area for the flyers. Choubey said that the heliport will bring choppers within the reach of common man. “Being a busy airport, IGI airport does not have much space for helicopter movement. The Rohini one will be a dedicated heliport and will make chopper movement much easier,” he added. Only top VVIPs and industrialists manage to get permission for flying in or out of IGI in choppers. The country’s top dignitaries, including the president, prime minister, home minister and chief ministers of a few states, use choppers from Safdarjung airport. “To promote regional air connectivity, Pawan Hans has also prepared a roadmap to connect all the major destinations from this heliport such as Delhi to Shimla, Haridwar, Dehradun, Mathura, Agra, Meerut and industrial hubs such as Manesar, Bahadurgarh etc,” PHHL had said in February last year. Pawan Hans had successfully carried out the first trial test landing an Eccuriall B3 chopper exactly a year ago to assess standard operating procedures and safety standards. Since then it has carried out many more tests. This heliport has a terminal building having capacity of 150 passengers, four hangers with parking capacities of 16 helicopters and 9 parking bays. DeMarcus Cousins Womens Jersey
GMR wants to demerge airport arm; seeks lenders’ nod
GMR Infrastructure which operates the New Delhi international airport and the Hyderabad international airport has sought the approval of its lenders to demerge its airports arm and list it separately, according to a tweet by CNBC TV18. GMR Infrastructure which operates the New Delhi international airport and the Hyderabad international airport has sought the approval of its lenders to demerge its airports arm and list it separately, according to a tweet by CNBC TV18. According to the same unnamed sources, the demerge will be done to unlock value and to cut debt. GMR which runs the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi and the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad recently lost out to GVK to build the new Navi Mumbai airport. This would be the second airport in the country’s financial capital. Giovanni Fiore Authentic Jersey
Over to Hisar: New airport and aviation hub coming soon
Good news for the city: Hisar would soon get an airport. A feasibility report and the Centre’s approval have come in to air-link this counter-magnet city to other parts of the country. Capt DK Punia, executive director of Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation, said that initially the city would be linked to Delhi, Chandigarh and Jaipur. “The small distance air services would begin in the first phase. The 20 seat and 40-seat airplanes would be available on these routes,” he said. Flights to Mumbai, Ahmadabad and other far-off cities would start in the next phase. Plus, the Haryana government has expedited work on the Integrated Aviation Hub in the city. The government thinking is that besides a rise in demand for airport connectivity, there is urgent need for expanding services such as maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and Fixed Base Operation (FBO). An official spokesman said the project would be developed over 3,000 acres adjoining the existing Hisar airfield which will also have features such as aircraft parking and transit facilities, an aerospace park and an aviation training centre. With an existing airstrip of 4,000 feet, spread on 3,000 acres of government owned land, the Haryana government has invited ‘global expression of interest’ for developing the proposed integrated aviation hub. Due to its close proximity with neighbouring airports and states including the National Capital region, Hisar could also serve as a potential location for commercial development, the official said. Stacy McGee Authentic Jersey