GREENKO BUYS SIKKIM HYDRO PROJECT

Energy producer Greenko buys Indian hydro project

Sep 28, 2009 9:35am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Clean energy producer Greenko Group said it agreed to buy a license for a 96 megawatt hydro project in Sikkim, India to boost its production capacity.

The Sikkim project will cost about 105 million euros ($154 million) to build, take four years to complete, and is part of the group's expansion plan, said Chief Executive Anil Chalamalasetty.

"The project is in an advanced stage of development with necessary permits in place and land acquired in a region of proven hydrological data," Chalamalasetty said.

Greenko expects to obtain debt to fund 70 percent of the Sikkim project cost within three to six months.

It said it is in advanced stages of negotiation over similar assets.

The company also announced on Monday that pretax profit for the year to end March rose to 3.2 million euros from 2.8 million euros the year earlier as sales climbed 6 percent.

Greenko, founded in 2006 to develop, own and operate projects in Asia, said it secured production capacity of 255.5 MW at the year end and aims to increase that to 1,000 MW by the end of its financial year 2014.

Greenko's shares were up 8.2 percent at 79 pence at 0825 GMT.

(Reporting by Sharon Lindores; Editing by Julie Crust)

($1=.6810 Euro)