Lanco Infratech shares close over 10 per cent higher

Shares of Lanco Infratech on Tuesday surged nearly 11 per cent following reports that the company may sell power projects having a capacity of 3,000 MW from 2018 onwards and expects to get Rs 25,000 crore, which would help pare debt and also infuse fresh capital into the group.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it rose sharply by 10.66 per cent to Rs 4.15.

The scrip had rallied over 17 per cent in the previous session also, as the company's arm, Lanco Kondapalli Power has entered into power purchase agreements with electricity distribution companies of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

L Madhusudhan Rao, executive chairman of Lanco, said the current power portfolio of the group is expected to touch 8,000 MW by 2018 from the current 3,400 MW.

Lanco had Rs 33,000 crore debt as on March 31, 2015.

"In FY16, we are not selling any projects. Most of the asset sale will happen from FY18 onwards. Our target is, we will sell definitely 3,000 MW from this 8,000 MW basket.

"But which asset we will sell and all, we will choose based on the value and potential price," Rao had said on Monday on the sidelines of the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Hyderabad.

Earlier in the day, the shares of the company were trading at Rs 4.10 per share, higher by 9.33 per cent on BSE at 01:09 pm.

Lanco Infratech's shares closed at Rs 4.14 apiece, higher by 10.40 per cent from its previous close on BSE.

On NSE, the shares closed at Rs 4.20 per share higher by 12.00 per cent from its previous close.