Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus fund are competing to acquire the solar energy portfolio of French major Engie in India for around $400 million, said two people aware of the development.
Both have submitted firm offers and a final decision is due in the next couple of weeks. Actis, another global investor in the race, had backed out recently.
Engie has a renewable energy capacity of 1.5 GW in India. It has an installed capacity of 810 MW in solar and a capacity of 280 MW in wind. Rothschild & co is running a sale mandate for Engie.
GIP India is believed to have submitted a proposal that includes cash along with stock in its own clean energy subsidiary Vector Green Energy.
Edelweiss infra is bidding through Sekura Energy Limited, the energy focused platform wholly owned by Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus.
Vector Green Energy is the wholly owned subsidiary of India Infrastructure Fund II — a SEBI-registered Category-I Alternative Investment Fund managed by GIP India LLP. Vector Green currently owns 346 MW of capacity across 11 projects and 5 states in India.
GIP entered India last year by acquiring the infrastructure asset management business from the multi-asset manager IDFC Alternatives Ltd. It consists of two funds- the India Infrastructure Fund I and Fund II — that invested about $1.4 billion across power, roads and renewable energy sectors.
GIP is also in the process of signing an agreement with RattanIndia Power Ltd (formerly India Bulls Power) to buy the solar portfolio for an enterprise value of about $300 million (Rs 2,000 crore), which ET had reported in April.
