Piramal Enterprises, APG Asset Management commit $132 million to Essel Green Energy

Essel Green Energy currently owns 160 MW of solar assets in four states of India, of which, 110 MW is operational and 50 MW is under construction

Mumbai: Ajay Piramal-controlled Piramal Enterprises Ltd and Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management will jointly invest $132 million (Rs.900 crore) in Essel Infrastructure Ltd’s solar platform across India, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The solar platform, Essel Green Energy Pvt. Ltd, currently owns 160 megawatt (MW) of solar assets in four states of India, of which, 110 MW is operational and 50 MW is under construction. The company plans to raise capacity to 1,000 MW over the next two to three years.

The new investment from Piramal Enterprises and APG Asset Management will be used to grow the solar business, the statement said. Ernst and Young India acted as the financial advisor to Essel Group in the transaction.

In 2014, Piramal Enterprises and APG Asset Management, Netherland’s largest pension fund, said they would invest $1 billion in India’s high-growth infrastructure sector over the next three to four years.

Essel Infraprojects, a part of Subash Chandra-led Essel Group, has projects across roads, power transmission and distribution, urban infrastructure, and renewable energy.

“We view India as an attractive renewable energy market with favourable growth dynamics. APG is a strong supporter of increased investments in sustainable energy generation,” said Hans-Martin Aerts, head of infrastructure investments Asia Pacific at APG.

APG Asset Management was managing pension assets of more than €400 billion as at the end of January.

India has a target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity and 60 GW of wind power capacity by 2022 as part of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s efforts to lower dependence on coal-fuelled electricity.

Global companies including the US-based SunEdison Inc., Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank Corp., Italy’s Enel Green Power, French utility EDF, and Indian companies including Welspun Renewables Ltd, Goldman Sachs-backed ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd, Morgan Stanley-owned Continuum Wind Energy Ltd, JP Morgan-backed Leap Green Energy Pvt. Ltd and NuPower Renewables Pvt. Ltd are already expanding in the Indian clean energy market.

Piramal Enterprises is a diversified company with consolidated revenue of over $830 million in fiscal 2015. The company provides financing to real estate companies through its Piramal Fund Management Division and provides long-term capital to capital intensive businesses through its Structured Investment Group fund. The total funds under management under these businesses stand at about $2.7 billion.

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