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Strategic and financial investors JSW Group, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners and Waaree Energies have submitted binding bids for Enel Group’s renewable energy business in India. The deal is likely to value the Italy-based group’s portfolio of wind and solar power assets at equity of $350-400 million, said three people with knowledge of the development, who asked to remain anonymous. With the total debt, the enterprise value of the assets is likely to be more than $500-550 million, the people said.
Also read | “Binding bids have come in. The sellers will now get into exclusivity with one of the prospective buyers and proceed ahead," said the first person cited above. According to him, the deal is likely to be stitched by financial year end in March 2025.
Pipeline of 2GW The portfolio of Enel Green Power India comprises 760 megawatts (MW) of operational wind and solar power assets and a development pipeline of 2 gigawatts (GW). It also has power purchase agreements totalling 190MW. Of the operational capacity, solar power projects comprise 420MW, with the balance 340MW coming from wind power projects.
was first to report the group’s plans to sell its India business in December 2023. Global investment bank HSBC has been helping the group look for buyers. Emailed queries to JSW Group, Stonepeak, Waaree and Enel went unanswered.
Also read | There has been a spurt in the demand for renewable energy assets in the country. On Tuesday, reported Actis’ plans to consider selling its platform BluPine. Other notable assets on the market include Shell’s Sprng Energy, Macquarie’s Stride Climate and Sweden’s EQT-backed O2Power.
Siemens Gamesa’s India wind turbine is among the foreign assets up for sale, reported earlier this year. Foreign strategic players exiting “The trend is that many foreign strategic players seem to be exiting India. In the medium term, growth of renewables in India is likely to be led by private equity and Indian strategic players," said Sudip Mahapatra, partner, S&R Associates.
“Many global renewable energy firms perhaps have found that returns in other markets are higher as India is a more competitive market. Project execution in India also comes with a challenge." In 2020, Enel Green Power India joined hands with Norfund, a Norwegian development finance institution, to jointly finance, build and operate new renewable projects in India.
Enel Group was also interested in taking over electricity distribution in Puducherry, and had submitted a non-binding offer to buy Reliance Infrastructure Ltd’s Delhi electricity distribution business. Also read | While solar energy projects face challenges such as land acquisition and adequate electricity transmission infrastructure, once the early-stage risks are cleared, these projects command a premium given the growing power demand in the country. Investment forecasts for the renewable energy sector have been robust.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its World Energy Outlook 2023, projected investments in clean energy supply and clean technology manufacturing to double in India by 2030 from $60 billion in 2022..
