New Delhi (TIP)- In the first collaboration between rival billionaires, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has picked up a 26 per cent stake in a Madhya Pradesh power project of Gautam Adani, and signed a pact to use the plants’ 500 MW of electricity for captive use.
Reliance will pick up 5 crore equity shares in Mahan Energen Ltd (MEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Power Ltd, of face value Rs 10 at par (Rs 50 crore) and will use 500 MW of generation capacity for captive use, the two firms said in separate stock exchange filings.
The two businessmen hailing from Gujarat have often been pitted by media and commentators against each other but they have for years tiptoed around each other to reach the top two rungs of Asia’s wealth ladder. With Ambani’s interests spanning oil and gas to retail and telecom and Adani’s focus on infrastructure spanning sea ports to airports, coal and mining, they rarely crossed each other’s path except in the clean energy business where the two have announced multi-billion investments. Mahan Energen Ltd (MEL), wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Power Ltd (APL), has entered into a 20-year long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) for 500 MW with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL),