US private equity giant KKR is in talks to invest as much as Rs 500 crore to fund clean energy company Leap Green, founded by members of the family of Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan. The global buyout giant, which has turned to credit investing in a big way in India, has furnished a term sheet to provide short-term mezzanine funding worth Rs 500 crore that would help the Coimbatore-based Leap Green to meet capital requirements for execution of its existing pipeline of 750 megawatts of wind farms. The funding terms give KKR the option to convert the loans into equity if required. Leap Green is also separately in discussions to raise equity funding of Rs 1,000 crore to finance capacity additions of 500 megawatts.
“We are raising bridge finance to meet funding needs for executing our existing pipeline. We are also separately in discussions with a group of investors to raise equity to optimise our capital and for future growth”, Rajeev Karthikeyan, Leap Green’s co-founder told ET.
Rajeev, brother of Narain Karthikeyan, is also a director of Leap Green and focuses on marketing and brand-building for the company. JP Morgan is one of the largest shareholders of Leap Green. The clean energy company has power purchase agreements with state-run electricity distribution utilities in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Source: Economic Times