"We plan to start the commercial operations of the newly merged company -- ABB-Alstom Power Company Ltd -- by end of this year for which FIPB nod would be sought in next two to three months," the company official, who did not want to be identified, said.

ABB has already sought the shareholders approval for operating the merger in India for which the company is likely to convene an extraordinary general body meeting (EGM).

The new company will be targetting a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by year 2000. As per the plan, the Indian arm of the Swedish engineering giant ABB -- ABB Ltd, would be merged with British major Alstom's Indian operations, the official said.

The existing projects in hand of ABB Ltd would be transferred to the new company and therefore achieving the target of Rs 1,000 crore would not be aproblem, he said.

While the parent companies ABB and Alstom would have a total of 51 per cent stake in ABB-Alstom Power Company Ltd, the remaining 49 per cent would be held by the financial institutions and the public, he said.

The new company would be exclusively supplying equipmentand would take up the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts of power generating units only, the official said.

He said as per the arrangement the exisiting shareholders of ABB would be getting one share free in the new company.

ABB has also conducted a public hearing as per the high court order to seek the consent of its secured and unsecured creditors to give their views on the merger plan.

The results of this poll would be known by the end of this month, the official said.

ABB Ltd has so far invested about Rs 200 crore in India and has about five projects including that of the $1.2 billion Videocon Power Project in Tamil Nadu.

The company is involved in the EPC contract in all the projects andis also planning to take equity participation in some of the projects, the official said.

ABB Ltd is the EPC contractor for the fast-track ST-CMS power project in Andhra Pradesh, Daewoo power project in Madhya Pradesh and the SPIC power project, he said.

The company is also seeking equity participation in the Daewoo and Videocon power projects but nothing has moved forward due to delay in acheiving financial closure for the two projects.