Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro is looking to sell stake in its subsidiary L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd to raise close to $500 million (Rs. 2,850 crore). The size of the stake sale is not known. The L&T spokesperson refused to comment. Scrapping its earlier plans for an IPO, the company, which has mandated Morgan Stanley to arrange the sale, now looks at private equity investment. Volatile market conditions forced L&T to drop the IPO, which the company had announced in July 2011. It was two years ago that L&T bought out 21% stake owned by the PE players - IDFC, IDF, JP Morgan - in L&T IDPL for Rs. 550 crore. L&T IDPL handles a portfolio of infrastructure assets worth Rs. 45,000 crore which includes 19 road projects, three ports and a metro rail project. According to L&T IDPL website, the company reported a steep profit decline from Rs. 511.7 crore in FY2010 to Rs. 15.77 crore in FY2011.
