Five years after entering the renewable energy sector in India, Canadian investor Brookfield Asset Management is looking to partially monetise its clean energy assets. Among the largest infrastructure investors in the world, it plans to offload assets with a capacity of about 1.6 GW, said people aware of the matter. A potential deal is likely to value them at `9,000-10,000 crore ($1-1.2 billion) enterprise value, inclusive of debt, they said.
Currently, Brookfield has about 20 GW of wind and solar assets in operation or in the development pipeline across India. Investment bank JP Morgan has been hired to run the process, said the people cited above.
Of the 1.6 GW, 1 GW is operational. Close to 600 MW of projects are under construction, expected to be completed by year-end. Brookfield may add another 500-600 MW of assets, likely to be completed in the next two years, to those on the block, the people cited said. The holdings that will be divested include capacities of 500 MW in Rajasthan, 50 MW in Gujarat, 300 MW in south India and 80 MW in Madhya Pradesh.
A Brookfield spokesperson declined to comment.
The Canadian company has expanded its India clean energy portfolio through multiple acquisitions and greenfield projects.
In 2017, it bought US renewable energy company SunEdison’s solar yieldco TerraForm Global Inc, which gave Brookfield a 300MW portfolio of renewable assets in India.
In 2019, Brookfield entered the Indian renewables space with the direct acquisition of wind farms from Hyderabad-based Axis Energy Ventures for Rs 500 crore.
It also picked up 51% in CleanMax Enviro in 2023, with an equity investment of Rs 3,000 crore.
Brookfield Global Transition Fund II (BGTF II) has committed equity capital of up to $845 million (Rs 7,280 crore) in Brookfield-Axis Energy Ventures JV. In April, BGTF agreed to invest up to $1 billion in Avaada Ventures for its green hydrogen and green ammonia ventures in India.
In 2022, Brookfield sold its portfolio of Indian road assets to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in a deal valued at Rs 9,375 crore ($1.2 billion, as per currency conversion rates at the time).
INFRA INVESTMENTS
Brookfield has deployed about $25 billion in India since entry in 2014. Its major infrastructure moves include a Rs 25,215-crore investment in Jio Towers, a Rs 21,000-crore deal to buy ATC India and a Rs13,000-crore buyout of East-West Pipeline (formerly Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure).
Key potential deals in the Indian renewable energy space include Shell offloading a significant stake in the operational assets of Sprng Energy and Macquarie Group’s sale of Vibrant Energy, which provides electricity to corporate and industrial (C&I) customers.
Italian Group Enel is also exploring the sale of its 750 MW operational assets in India.
India has attracted investments of Rs 1.32 lakh crore in the renewable energy sector in the past three years. Installed renewable energy capacity is expected to increase to about 170 GW by March 2025 from 132 GW in October 2023, according to research agency Icra.
India is expected to see an increase of more than 83% in renewable energy investments to around $16.5 billion in 2024, as the country focuses on energy transition, according to Union Minister RK Singh.
Source: Economic Times