NEW DELHI : Global private equity fund Actis Llp’s renewable energy platform Sprng Energy on Friday acquired 194 megawatts (MW) of Shapoorji Pallonji group’s solar assets for an enterprise value of $200 million, two people aware of the development said.

Standard Chartered and Credit Suisse were the investment bankers for Actis and Shapoorji Pallonji group for the deal, respectively.

“The equity payout was around $70 million with the payment being made on Friday. Sprng Energy has acquired 194MW of the 400MW that was put on the block," one of the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

The deal for the assets that have been up for sale since 2017, marks the first acquisition by one of India’s largest clean energy platforms. It also comes after Actis sold its first green energy firm Ostro Energy to ReNew Power Ventures at an enterprise value of $1.5 billion last year. Following the acquisition, Sprng has a 1.65 gigawatts (GW) portfolio, of which 1.45GW is under various stages of construction. Actis plans to grow Sprng Energy to 2GW.

Mint reported on 27 October 2017 about Shapoorji Pallonji group’s plan to sell its solar project portfolio.

Shapoorji Pallonji Solar Holdings Pvt. Ltd (SPSHPL), a wholly owned and step-down subsidiary of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Pvt. Ltd (SPCPL), the group holding company was set up in 2011 to house the group’s solar power projects. Its portfolio currently comprises seven operational projects totalling 272MW and an additional 130MW of capacity which is in development.

Actis, which invests solely in emerging markets, has committed $2.1 billion to India and has been operating in the energy, financial services and real estate sectors. It has $10 billion worth of projects under construction in growth markets and has 116,500 employees in the businesses that it controls.

“A year ago, we decided to divest a part of our operating portfolio in order to redeploy capital for the development of new solar projects," Mukundan Srinivasan, managing director and CEO of SP Infra, said in a statement on Sunday.

“The acquisition of this portfolio is in line with Actis’s commitment of building 2GW+ of renewable power projects in India. With this acquisition, the total operating and under construction capacity of Sprng Energy, our 100% owned renewable platform, will increase to 1,650MW and we continue to look for opportunities to grow this portfolio further through both M&A and new bids" Sanjiv Aggarwal, partner Energy Asia at Actis, said in the statement.

Credit Suisse declined to comment.

Ostro Energy Pvt. Ltd and Solenergi are among the energy platforms that Actis created globally, following Globeleq Mesoamerica in Central America, Zuma Energia in Mexico, Aela Energia in Chile and Atlantic Renovaveis in Brazil.

The acquisition comes against the backdrop of Actis’s plan to set up a new firm in India to house its operational renewable energy assets in the country, attracted by the nation’s growing green economy.

otwithstanding the competitive tariffs, there is interest in the space—a case in point being EverSource Capital, the joint venture between private equity firm Everstone Capital and global solar project developer Lightsource BP, that is looking to invest over $1 billion in renewable energy investments through its Green Growth Equity Fund.

India has an installed renewable energy capacity of 74.79GW, of which solar and wind power accounts for 25.21GW and 35.14GW respectively.

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