International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank, is providing Rs 201.9 crore ($34 million) to ACME Solar Energy Pvt Ltd, part of the ACME Group, for its Rajasthan project.
This is the second and final tranche of the overall envelope for debt funding of $50 million which IFC had committed to ACME Solar to be used for various projects.
The IFC's new investment consists a loan of up to Rs 202 ($34 million) crore with a possible syndication of up to Rs 388 crore ($66 million) taking the total to Rs 590 crore ($100 million) for its 100 MW solar power project in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. The project, whose total cost is pegged at Rs 808 crore ($136 million), is estimated to be commissioned by April 2015.
ACME Solar is a holding company founded by ACME Tele Power to develop, construct and operate solar-generation assets in India.
ACME Solar has commissioned a 25 MW solar power plant in Madhya Pradesh and is developing a 25 MW solar power plant in Odisha. The new plant is being developed through its five wholly owned subsidiaries, Ranji Solar Energy Pvt Ltd, Acme Gurgaon Power Pvt Ltd, Acme Rajdhani Power Pvt Ltd, Acme Mumbai Power Pvt Ltd and Medha Energy Pvt Ltd.
As of September 15, 2014, around 32.16 per cent stake in ACME Solar is held by Acme Cleantech Solutions Pvt Ltd; MKU Holdings owns 17.84 per cent stake while EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) and EREN S.A own 26 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.
Acme Cleantech and MKU Holdings are part of the ACME Group which was founded by Manoj Upadhyay in 2003. The ACME Group is into energy, environmental and telecommunications infrastructure solutions in India. It has presence in over 15 countries, 2,000 employees and an installed base of more than 150,000 telecom towers globally.
Its flagship firm is ACME Tele Power Ltd which is a provider of energy conservation and energy management solutions to leading telecom operators including Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers, Vodafone, Aircel, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications.
EDF EN is a subsidiary of the energy giant EDF Group while Eren is a holding company, which through its subsidiaries, owns and operates solar and wind farms. The company, through its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and owns equipment allowing its customers and partners to rationalise their consumption of energy resources and other natural resources. Eren SA was founded in 2012 by Pâris Mouratoglou and David Corcha.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)