Inter RAO secures 100 pct of Moldova power plant

MOSCOW, July 30 (Reuters) - Russian electricity trader Inter RAO (IRAO.RTS: Quote, Profile, Research) has increased its stake in a 2.5-gigawatt Moldovan power plant to 100 percent by buying another 49 percent of the plant for $163 million, it said on Wednesday.

Inter RAO bought the stake from Hungary's EMFESZ, and will pay for it with borrowed capital, the state-controlled company said in the statement.

In the medium term, Inter RAO plans to seek strategic investors for the power plant, called the Moldavian GRES in the town of Dnestrovsk, among Europe's largest energy companies, the statement said.

Aside from having a near monopoly on electricity imports and exports in Russia, Inter RAO owns power stations with a combined generating capacity of almost 8 gigawatts, both in Russia and other former Soviet countries.

It is expected to become one of the main blue chips representing the power sector after the liquidation this month of its power company, the former electricity monopoly Unified Energy System, as part of a sweeping reform of the power sector. (Reporting by Simon Shuster; Editing by David Cowell)