Renewable energy firm Greenko Energy Holdings based in Hyderabad has raised an equity funding from existing investors Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
The amount of funding secured is Rs 1,010 crore (about US$155 million), making this one of the largest fundraising exercises in the renewable energy sector.
As per financial terms, Greenko said it has signed a definitive agreement that will see GIC investing US$123.9 million while the ADIA subsidiary will invest the remaining US$31.1 million.
Prior to this, both VCs have also participated in an earlier funding round held less than a year ago when Greenko raised US$230 million – made up from ADIA’s investment of US$150 million and GIC’s funding of US$80 million.
GIC will also remain as the majority shareholder with its fresh round of investment and its previous stake acquisition in Greenko Group Plc’s Mauritius entity which places it at a stake of 60 to 65 percent.
While remaining stakes are distributed between ADIA having 15 percent, and the company’s two founders – Anil Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli holding the rest.
“With our attractive diversified and de-risked renewable power portfolio operation utilizing latest efficient technologies, we will continue to demonstrate our execution capabilities to reach our vision to be the most admired independent power producer that will deliver gigawatts of clean energy at grid parity,” said Chalamalasetty, the CEO of Greenko Group.
“We have created a strong and sustainable platform to take advantage of evolving energy market dynamics and strong sector fundamentals accelerated by new government initiatives,” he added.
The investment in Greenko comes at a time when the Indian government has set a target of generating 175 Gigawatt (GW) through renewable energy by 2022.
At present, Greenko has a utility scale portfolio of over 2,000 Megawatt (MW) of wind, solar and small hydro assets. However, with its latest fund, the clean energy firm plans to fuel its growth to reach a portfolio of over 2.5GW.
It aims to become a 3GW renewable energy company by the year-end, through the development of new renewable energy projects, including recently acquired solar projects and low-risk expansion of existing wind farms.
The renewable energy firm has recently made a string of acquisitions, including a 1.7 GW Indian wind and solar portfolio of clean energy giant SunEdison Inc purchased last year and a 100 MW hydroelectric power plant in north India from Abu Dhabi’s TAQA acquired earlier in January.
“With a strong portfolio of projects, across hydel, wind and solar, we are on course to a strong growth plan through to the year 2019,” Chalamalasetty explained.
Greenko’s current base of funds, along with its development and execution capability has refined over 10 years. Since its inception, it has positioned the renewable energy platform as a contributor to the country’s sustainable and clean energy sector.
By Vivian Foo, VCNewsNetwork
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