<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>GVK Power and Infrastructure is seeking to raise $500 million to $600 million by selling a stake in its Singapore arm and is in talks with Government of Singapore Investment Corp for a potential deal, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.<br><br>The Indian developer of airports, power projects, roads and mines will sell a minority stake in GVK Coal Developers (Singapore) Pte Ltd, the sources said, adding that a deal may be a precursor to a Singapore listing of the unit that holds coal assets in Australia.<br><br>The sale will help fund the huge capital spending needed to develop the mines in Australia and reduce debt linked to the $1.26 billion purchase last year.<br><br>GVK Power is looking to sell a stake in GVK Coal Developers as soon as possible, Group CFO Issac George said on Monday, declining to identify prospective investors or the potential size of a deal.<br><br>"There are people who have approached us, who have shown tremendous amount of interest," he told Reuters.<br><br>A spokeswoman with the Singapore sovereign fund declined to comment.<br><br>GVK acquired the Australian assets to secure long-term coal supplies for the group's power projects in India and to meet demand in other regional markets.<br><br>Shares in GVK Power rose as much as 4.8 per cent on Tuesday, beating a 0.3 per cent gain in the broader Mumbai market, after the Reuters report on the likely stake sale in the unit.<br><br>Still, the group's market value of $384 million is only a fraction of what it was three years ago.<br><br>GVK Coal, whose Australian mines may produce 84 million tonnes of coal a year at full capacity, may have a bigger market value than its parent, one of the sources said, without elaborating.<br><br>Indian infrastructure builders have been struggling because the government has been dragging its feet on project approvals.<br><br>Private equity investments in Indian infrastructure slumped 60 per cent to $183 million in 10 transactions during the quarter ended March from $459 million in 16 transactions a year earlier, according to industry tracker VCCircle.com.<br><br>Poor infrastructure is also a bottleneck to India's economic growth, which slowed to 5.3 per cent in the March quarter, the weakest annual pace in nine years.<br><br><br><br>(Reuters)</p>