Engie Solar, which has an 810 megawatt (MW) solar portfolio in India, has hired Rothschild and Co. to find a buyer for the assets.
Private equity (PE) fund Actis Llp is in talks to buy the Indian solar power business of French energy firm Engie SA, in what may rank among the largest deals in the local renewable energy space.
Engie Solar, which has an 810 megawatt (MW) solar portfolio in India, has hired Rothschild and Co. to find a buyer for the assets.
The next big move
Actis’s move follows the acquisition of Shapoorji Pallonji group’s 194MW solar asset portfolio for $200 million, through its renewable energy platform Sprng Energy on 29 March. Actis’s active interest in renewable energy in India comes after it sold its first green energy firm, Ostro Energy, to ReNew Power Ventures at an enterprise value of $1.5 billion last year. The PE firm has a stated strategy of growing its green energy portfolio through acquisitions and bids for new projects.
Following the purchase of Shapoorji Pallonji group’s solar assets, Sprng has a 1.65 gigawatt (GW) portfolio, of which 1.45GW is under various stages of construction. Actis plans to grow Sprng Energy to 2GW capacity.
With €60.6 billion in annual revenue, Engie is the world’s largest electricity generator outside government control, with an installed capacity of 115.3GW. Of this, 22 per cent is from renewable energy sources. Engie plans to set up 2GW capacity in India by 2019. It also has a wind power portfolio of 280MW.
Engie’s move comes at a time when financing at the lowest cost has become the key to success, given the record low tariffs. Besides, India has introduced a safeguard duty for two years on solar cells and modules imported from China and Malaysia that has further underlined the need for competitive financing.
