Adani Green Energy Ltd today said it has struck a deal to fully acquire SB Energy India from SoftBank Group and Bharti Group at an enterprise value of $3.5 billion (Rs 25,538 crore), marking one of the biggest transactions in the renewable energy space.
The deal, which had been in the offing for some time, comes after talks with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) fell through. SB Energy India, which is 80 per cent owned by SoftBank and 20 per cent by Bharti Group, has a total renewable portfolio of 4,954 megawatt (MW) across four states in India.
Its portfolio capacity is 84% solar energy (4,180 MW), 9% wind-solar hybrid (450 MW) and 7% wind (324 MW). The portfolio has 1,400 MW operational solar power capacity and the rest 3,554 MW is under-construction.
The statement said that all projects have 25 year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with counterparties such as Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and NHPC.
The acquisition will take Adani Green Energy’s total renewable capacity to 24.3 gigawatt (GW) with operating assets at 4.9 GW. The closure of the deal is subject to regulatory approvals.
“This acquisition is another step towards the vision we stated in January 2020, wherein we laid out our plans to become the world’s largest solar player by 2025 and the world’s largest renewable company by 2030. India has been one of the few nations that has accelerated its global commitment towards climate change and we intend to do our part to execute on the promises made. The renewable energy platform that we are building will lay the foundation for attracting several other global industries that are increasingly looking to reduce their carbon footprint (as well as lay the foundation for opening up adjacent platforms that include hydrogen and storage),” said Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group.
Masayoshi Son, representative director, corporate officer, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp, said, “We established SB Energy India in 2015 with the goal of creating a market-leading clean energy company to help fuel India’s growth with clean and renewable sources of energy. As SoftBank Group continues our transition to a global investment holding company focused on accelerating the deployment of artificial intelligence, we believe now is the right time to bring in the Adani Group to help drive the next phase of SB Energy India’s growth.”
Adani Green Energy develops, builds, owns, operates and maintains utility-scale grid-connected solar and wind farm projects. Its key customers include National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), SECI and various state discoms.
