London, March 7 (PTI): The Ruias-led Essar group is working towards an $8-billion listing of their oil and power businesses in London, according to the Daily Telegraph.

“India’s billionaire Ruia brothers have begun preparations for an $8-billion (£5.3 billion) London listing of their oil and power businesses,” the British daily has reported.

Ravi and Shashi Ruia are ranked fifth among India’s billionaires by Forbes magazine with a fortune of $13.6 billion.

The newspaper said the listing could make it the first Indian company to enter London’s main market since Vedanta Resources seven years ago.

“Essar is looking at a London listing of a holding company, which will have its refinery, power, exploration and production businesses,” the daily reported.

It said the Essar group had already contacted the London Stock Exchange authorities to begin discussions on potential obstacles to a float.

“Ravi Ruia (vice-chairman of the Essar group) has been based in the group’s London offices in Berkeley Square for nearly four months, developing international plans, and his nephew, Prashant, the group chief executive, has been shuttling back and forth from Mumbai,” the report said.

Essar has also launched an advertising campaign to raise its profile.

Quoting an Essar spokesperson, the report said it was premature to discuss the listing and stressed that no final decision had been made.

The group had appointed JP Morgan Cazenove as its adviser two months ago. “London investors will have to weigh Essar’s strong growth prospects against its often fraught relationship with its minority share and debenture holders,” The report said.

Essar is also the sole remaining bidder for three of Royal Dutch Shell’s European refineries.

“It (Essar) plans to triple the capacity of its Indian oil refinery by 2012 and aims to invest over $4 billion in increasing its power generation by a factor of five to 6,000 mega watt,” the paper said.

The Essar group last week had acquired US-based Trinity Coal Partners for $600 million. Essar Minerals, a group company, has signed a definitive agreement with private equity firm Denham Capital to buy Trinity Coal. The deal is expected to close by month-end.