CDC Group is looking to bring in an equity partner for Ayana Renewable Power, its renewables platform in India
Mumbai: CDC Group Plc, the UK government’s development finance institution, plans to raise around $100 million by selling a stake in Ayana Renewable Power, its renewable energy platform recently launched in India, two people aware of the development said. CDC had in January announced the launch of Ayana, which it said would develop hundreds of megawatts of generation capacity for underserved states in India as well as countries in South Asia such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
“CDC is looking to bring in an equity partner for its renewables platform. They have been in talks with a few investment banks and will appoint a banker to run a process to help find a partner. They are looking to bring in at least $100 million in equity through this stake sale,” said the first person cited above, requesting anonymity as he is not authorized to speak with the media.
The person did not disclose the quantum of stake CDC plans to sell. The second person said CDC had shortlisted a couple of foreign investment banks out of which it would appoint one to manage the fundraising.
“We are unable to comment on speculation,” a spokesperson for CDC said in an emailed response to queries from Mint.
The Ayana platform is managed and run by an independent board and management team. CDC in January announced the appointment of Shivanand Nimbargi as managing director and chief executive and P.J. Nayak as chairman of Ayana. Nimbargi, with over two decades of experience in the power sector, was managing director and CEO of Green Infra Ltd from 2011 to 2016. He also held senior roles at Alstom India and was most recently managing director of L&T Metro Rail, Hyderabad.
Nayak, with more than 25 years of experience in the banking and financial services sector, is a former chairman and CEO of Axis Bank, and has also served as the chairman of Union Bank of Colombo Plc, country head at Morgan Stanley India and senior adviser at TPG Capital.
CDC has invested over $1.3 billion in India since 1987. In the Indian renewable space, it has invested $25 million in IDFC Alternatives-backed clean energy firm Green Infra in November 2013. In April 2017, CDC announced an investment of up to $100 million to support the development of renewable energy projects in India. Like CDC, several financial investors have set up platforms to develop and acquire solar and wind energy assets.
In February 2015, Actis committed $280 million to create renewable energy platform Ostro Energy, which it sold to ReNew Power Ltd in April for around ₹10,000 crore. At the time of its sale, Ostro had a capacity of over 1.1 gigawatt, including nearly 850MW of operating assets.
In January, Equis announced the closure of the sale transaction of Equis Energy to Global Infrastructure Partners and its co-investors for an enterprise value of $5 billion. In India, Equis Energy owned 974MW of wind and solar power assets, developed and under development.
Source: livemint
