Leap Green Energy Pvt. Ltd, a renewable energy firm majority owned by JPMorgan Asset Management, has agreed to acquire the entire operational wind power capacity of Inox Renewables Ltd.
Inox Renewables and its unit Inox Renewables (Jaisalmer) Ltd will sell wind power plants in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with a total generation capacity of about 260 MW, it said in a statement.
Inox Renewables is part of Inox Group and a wholly owned subsidiary of Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd, the group’s flagship company. It said it decided to exit the wind farm business to focus on its core businesses, including that of wind turbine manufacturing.
The company didn’t disclose the deal value but Deepak Asher, director and group head (corporate finance) of Inox Group, said the transaction will help Gujarat Fluorochemicals reduce its debt of around Rs 800 crore that was attributable to the wind farming business.
Inox Group is a diversified conglomerate with business interest in sectors such as industrial gases, refrigerants, multiplexes and wind turbine manufacturing. Inox Renewables was set up in 2010 to hold Inox Group’s wind farming business.
The deal is subject to certain conditions and is likely to complete over the next few months.
UBS was financial adviser for the transaction while Khaitan and Co. was the legal adviser to the Inox Group. Law firm MD&T Partners advised Leap Green Energy and its subsidiaries.
For Leap Green, the deal will help it increase its operating capacity to 762 MW across four states, making it one of the largest independent power producers in the wind energy sector. It plans to have a total operating capacity of 2,000 MW by 2019.
Leap Green Energy is a privately held firm promoted by Indian Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan and his family. The company was founded and promoted by Rajeev Karthikeyan, Devanand Vijayan, Narain Karthikeyan and Srihari Balakrishnan. JP Morgan Asset Management invested close to Rs 200 crore in Leap in two tranches in 2010.
In 2013, Leap Green had acquired some wind power assets of real estate developer DLF Ltd for Rs 67.44 crore.
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