Ayana Renewable Power is looking to sell a majority stake of as much as 100% in the green energy company, targeting an equity valuation of around $2 billion, two people aware of the development said. The shareholders are also seeking to raise around another $400 million as primary equity infusion to finance the company’s growth, the people said, requesting anonymity.
Standard Chartered has been mandated to manage the sale for the company with a 5 gigawatt (GW) portfolio. The Bengaluru-based renewable company was founded in 2017 and is majority-owned by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd’s (NIIF) core infrastructure fund. Ayana’s other shareholders include British International Investment Plc and Eversource Capital. Ayana plans to build a 10GW portfolio by 2025 and has projects in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
“Initial conversations are ongoing with potential investors,” said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity.
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NIIF is sponsored by the Indian government, which holds a 49% interest in it. It primarily focuses on investing in core infrastructure sectors, such as transportation, airports, ports, logistics and roads, green energy and digital. It manages more than $4.3 billion of equity capital commitments across its three funds—Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Opportunities Fund.
In emailed responses, spokespeople for Ayana, British International Investment and Standard Chartered declined to comment. Queries emailed to spokespeople for NIIF and Eversource Capital on Friday morning remained unanswered.
There is significant interest in India’s green energy transition space, with the latest case in point being Gentari Sdn Bhd, a unit of Malaysia’s state-run oil and gas company Petronas, and Singapore’s GIC Holdings Pte Ltd’s plan to invest $1.75 billion equity in a unit of AM Green, set up by the founders of the Greenko Group, Mahesh Kolli and Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, and 100% owned by them. Also, Amplus founder Sanjeev Aggarwal and I Squared Capital have come together again to set up a climate solutions platform—Hexa Climate Solutions—which will focus on renewable energy, water and carbon offsets, wherein the New York-based private equity fund will invest around $500 million.
Mint earlier reported about Shell Plc looking to sell a stake in the operational assets of the Sprng Energy group. Also, Gentari, Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund’s Sekura Energy Ltd and Actis are in the fray to acquire 350 megawatts (MW) of solar projects from European alternative asset manager EQT and Temasek-promoted O2Power. State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd, Gentari, Edelweiss and Actis are in the race to buy 185MW solar projects from Finnish state-run power utility Fortum Oyj. NIIF and Actis are also among the four contenders vying to acquire Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group platform Vibrant Energy.
India’s green energy space has seen tremendous interest, given the country’s ever-increasing demand for power. The country recently set a new record with peak power demand reaching 239.9GW on 1 September, exceeding the Central Electricity Authority’s projections of 230GW.
India has set a target of 500GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030. The country has an installed renewable energy capacity of 172GW, with an additional 128GW either under development or bid out.
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Updated: 05 Nov 2023, 11:57 PM IST