China Huaneng may buy GMR's InterGen stake-report

BANGALORE - China Huaneng Group is leading the race to acquire GMR Infrastructure's 50 percent stake in US-based power utility InterGen for about $1.5 billion, two newspapers reported on Friday.

The Chinese firm is completing its final due diligence on InterGen's assets and the deal is expected to close by the end of the calendar year, the Economic Times said without naming its sources.

Subbarao Amarthaluru declined to comment in the report citing non disclosure agreement but said -- "We are engaged in the due diligence process and hope to close the deal by March 2011."

"Our calculation changed due to the European recession as InterGen did not contribute the expected value."

Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure bought 50 percent of InterGen in 2008 for $1.1 billion from a fund owned by American International Group Inc. The rest of InterGen is owned by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

InterGen -- which has combined power generation capacity of over 8,000 megawatts -- owns power plants in the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, Mexico and the Philippines.