British private equity firm Actis said Friday it has acquired two solar projects in India totalling 400 megawatt from Acme Solar Holdings Ltd.
The projects are located in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Actis said in a statement.
The emerging markets-focussed PE firm bought the assets through its Actis Long Life Infrastructure Fund.
Actis, which manages assets in excess of $15 billion across Asia, Africa and Latin America, didn’t disclose financial details of the transaction. At least two media reports pegged the deal value around Rs 2,300 crore ($306.5 million).
The acquisition comes two years after Actis made one of the biggest-ever exits in the Indian renewable energy sector when it sold Ostro Energy to Sumant Sinha-led ReNew Power in a $1.6 billion (Rs 10,800 crore) deal in April 2018. That deal had, however, run into regulatory hurdles before it was completed, VCCircle reported in February.
The other major asset that Actis continues to own in India is Sprng Energy, which has 648 MW of operating assets and another 1,100 MW in the pipeline.
In April last year, Sprng Energy had bought the 194 MW operating solar energy portfolio of Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital Co Ltd for an undisclosed amount.
Sanjiv Aggarwal, partner of Actis responsible for its energy and infrastructure business in the region, said the firm will continue to focus on acquisitions and government auctions in India, one of the fastest-growing solar markets in the world.
The Actis-Acme deal comes just days after Ayana Renewable Power Ltd, backed by the UK-based development financial institution CDC Group Plc, said it had acquired two solar power plants of 40 MW capacity in Karnataka from First Solar Power India Pvt Ltd.
Although Ayana didn’t divulge the deal value, its chief executive officer and managing director Shivanand Nimbargi told VCCircle over the phone that the enterprise value of the acquired assets was around Rs 210 crore.
The latest deal adds to the hectic pace of dealmaking in India’s renewable energy sector as a number of companies are looking to beef up their generation capacities. Other investors that have bought renewable energy assets this year include Canadian alternative investment firm Brookfield Asset Management Inc., US-based private equity firm KKR and Indian financial services conglomerate Edelweiss Group.
Brookfield in June inked a deal acquire Emami Power Ltd, a solar power-focused company owned by the promoters of the Emami Group. In April, KKR snapped up five solar energy assets from Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital for $204 million (Rs 1,554 crore). And in January, an infrastructure fund managed by Edelweiss agreed to purchase a 74% stake in French utility Engie’s solar assets in India.
