Hindustan Power projects Pvt. Ltd has initiated discussions with investors to sell around 300 megawatts (MW) of solar assets.
The money could be used for expansion and also to provide a partial exit to its private equity investor, Blackstone. The sale could fetch the Blackstone-backed power asset developer almost $300 million (around Rs.2,000 crore).
The company is talking to various financial and strategic investors. The portfolio of assets it is looking to sell has an enterprise value of almost $300 million, of which almost $100 million is equity and the rest, debt.
Hindustan Power projects has been exploring options to raise funds to create more power assets and also to provide an exit to Blackstone.
While the company has been talking about an IPO (initial public offering), that is still some time away. At the same time, Blackstone, which invested about $300 million in Hindustan Power projects in August 2010 and holds more than 30% (in the company), has been contemplating an exit. So, it has been looking at these asset sales to raise funds.
The company, formerly known as Moser Baer Projects Pvt. Ltd, has 600MW of solar capacity. In April, it commissioned a 1,200MW thermal power plant at Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh.
It plans to reach 2 gigawatts (GW) in total solar capacity by 2017 and has a target of reaching 7GW of total capacity by 2020 from coal, solar and hydroelectric power sources. According to its website, it is in advanced stages of commissioning more than 5GW by 2017 of combined power assets at an estimated investment of $5.15 billion. Besides India, the company has power generation assets in Germany, Italy, the US, the UK and Japan.
India has set itself the ambitious target of increasing its clean energy capacity more than fivefold to 175GW by 2022. Of this, around 100GW is to come from solar power. In the climate change talks held in Paris last December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that by 2030, 40% of the country’s installed power capacity would be based on non-fossil fuel.
India needs $200 billion in investments to reach its goal of 100GW solar energy and 60GW wind energy by 2022. Overseas investors and global renewable energy firms are making a beeline for the country and several Indian conglomerates are looking at the sector more seriously.
By EB Bureau
