US energy firm AES Corp will look into the possibility of an initial public offering for its Turkish venture AES-IC Ictas to fund fresh investment, AES's CEO Paul Hanrahan said on Thursday.
He also told Reuters in an interview that AES, which has started construction of two hydropower plants as part of a total $600 million investment in Turkey, aimed to have 10-15 percent of the Turkish electricity market in the long term.
"I think we look at the possibility of an IPO as being something that will eventually make sense, possibly overseas, possibly someday here in Turkey," he said.
The firm is planning to use banks and its partners to fund the $600 million investment in Turkey for 18 power plants with a 390 megawatt capacity - announced last May - but the firm will look at tapping public markets for investments beyond this.
Hanrahan said AES would seek an IPO in the medium term in London or in the United States to fund projects around the world. "We have a lot of opportunities worth pursuing and we would like a few more hydropower plant constructions started ... and I think an IPO would be an option to consider," he said.
AES operates power plants world-wide with $30 billion assets in 28 countries, 40,000 megawatt capacity and posted $12 billion turnover last year. "In the next four years, we will be building 6,500 megawatts new capacity outside of the United States and that would be roughly $9 billion of total investment," Hanrahan said.
He said roughly half of this would be financed through raising public debt and one half through equity. AES is very interested in Turkish energy privatisation, said Hanrahan, adding Turkey would be an energy hub and one of the fastest growing economies in the coming decade.
"In addition to these existing hydropower plants, we are interested in privatisation of generation plants. We are also interested in building greenfield plants, including gas plants and coal plants," he said.
AES is considering bidding in privatisation of both electricity distribution and generation facilities, but will make its decision after announcement of final tender rules. The firm aims to win 10 to 15 percent of Turkey's electricity generation market over the long term.
The company is considering wind power projects in the country. "If we are successful with our projects, we might invest as much as $200 million in wind power projects in Turkey over time," he said. Hanrahan said Turkey constituted a small percentage of its global business but he expected this to increase incrementally.
AES is also pursuing two domestic coal-fired plant projects in India, each with 1,200 megawatt capacity, and a 1,200 megawatt capacity coal-fired plant in Vietnam, to acquire a 600 megawatt plant in the Philippines and to build a new 600 megawatt plant there.
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