India's Sterlite group bags power licenses in Brazil 

According to reports, India's Sterlite Poweris among the three companies to have clinched licenses to build power transmission lines in Brazil in a government auction on Thursday.

China's State Grid and Colombia's Isa are the other two companies to receive the license. The deal is expected to draw a total of 6 billion reais ($1.55 billion) in investment.

Some 47 companies and consortia registered to present bids at the auction at Sao Paulo's stock exchange B3, which led to a competitive round, Reuters reported.

Under auction rules, the companies that offered the biggest discounts on the tariffs would win.

Sterlite debuted in Brazil last year. The company clinched six projects that will require around 3.6 billion reais to build.

Cteep, a unit of Colombia's Isa, won two projects, with projected investments of 880 million reais, while CPFL, a subsidiary of China's State Grid, was granted a project that is slated to cost about 102 million reais.

The three companies will now enjoy a 30-year contract to operate the lines, with pre-defined annual revenues coming from the tariffs to be charged for the service.

Sterlite Power, which won orders to build power transmission lines in Brazil last year, is mulling an investment of USD 4 billion in energy projects in Brazil by 2022, PTI reported.

"We are already committed to USD 1 billion (in projects), and we are open to expanding this three or four times over the next three or four years," Sterlite Group CEO Pratik Agarwal said in a statement.

"Sao Paulo will be our headquarters in Latin America to look beyond Brazil," Agarwal said. He cited Argentina, Chile, Mexico and possibly Peru as potential countries of interest, and pointed out that the advance to these markets could take place over a period of 1-3 years.

(With inputs from agencies)