Mytrah Energy India Pvt. Ltd is exploring a merger with other green energy firms in India to create a bigger entity ahead of a US listing plan through the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) route option, said two people aware of the development.
The plan, which is in a preliminary stage, is to combine green energy firms, including Mytrah Energy, having less than 5 gigawatts (GW) portfolio, said the people cited above requesting anonymity.
The consolidated entity may eventually be merged with a SPAC, they said.
Vikram Kailas, co-founder and MD of Mytrah Energy, declined to comment.
SPACs are publicly traded shell companies that merge with unlisted companies to take them public, skipping the time-consuming conventional route of initial public offering (IPO). Indian green energy firms are exploring this option amid a growing focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.
Goldman Sachs-backed ReNew Power, one of India’s top green energy developers, successfully used the SPAC route by announcing its merger agreement with Nasdaq-listed SPAC RMG Acquisition Corp. II last week at an enterprise value of about $8 billion and an equity value of $4.4 billion.
Mytrah Energy is exploring the use of the SPAC route for a listing after its $750-million equity deal with private equity firm KKR fell through.
The Hyderabad-based firm has one of the largest wind data banks in India and an operational portfolio of 2.3GW. This comprises 1.7GW of wind and around 535MW of solar, besides another 700MW of projects under development.
Mint reported earlier about Mytrah reviving its stake sale process and looking to appoint Barclays Bank to sell a majority stake. In 2010, Mytrah listed on the alternative investment market of the London Stock Exchange after raising $80 million from institutional investors. It delisted in May 2018. The company was earlier also considering a public listing in India.
A spokesperson for Barclays Bank India declined to comment.
Like Mytrah, ReNew Power also shelved in 2019 plans for an IPO in India amid market volatility. The company may later explore a listing in India, as reported by Mint earlier.
“Indian renewable energy firms are exploring the SPAC option, given that the Indian IPO plans didn’t materialize and US listings are offering higher valuations. While earlier, there was an appetite for tech firms to be listed through the SPAC route, that appetite is now growing for infrastructure firms,” said one of the two people cited above.
Mytrah Energy’s plans come at a time of rising demand for electricity in India, which touched a high of 189.6GW in December. India is running the world’s largest green energy programme and has been rapidly expanding its clean energy capacity at low tariffs.
India has set a target of achieving a 450GW renewable energy capacity by 2030. It currently has an installed renewable energy capacity of 89.63GW, with around 49.59GW capacity under execution and another 27.41GW been tendered.
