The Adani Group has joined the race to acquire the Indian renewable assets of Singapore-based Equis Energy, which has put its entire portfolio valued at about $5 billion on the block/
Adani has teamed up with Doha-based Nebras Power, which is looking to buy Equis’ remaining assets in the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Taiwan, they said.
Nebras has no presence in India and is not immediately considering entering the country on its own, and hence invited Adani to join it in its bid.
Equis Energy’s assets have attracted global interest because of the company’s strong presence in the rapidly expanding Asian market for wind and solar energy.
Global players interested in Equis’ assets have formed teams, akin to Adani and Nebras. These include Royal Dutch Shell and SoftBank; Japanese financial services giant Orix Corp and Dutch pension fund APG; US-based private equity fund I Squared Capital, which invests mainly in infrastructure, along with Thailand’s Electricity Generation Plc and Japan’s Mitsubishi; France’s energy major Engie and China’s State Power Investment Corporation.
Equis, a PE fund set up by former employees of Australia’s Macquarie Bank in 2012, has raised equity funding of around $2.7 billion and rapidly built up one of the largest renewable energy portfolios in the South Asian and Asia-Pacific regions. More than half its commissioned portfolio is in India — the wind and solar components were earlier known as Energon and Energon Soleq, respectively.
It has total commissioned wind and solar assets of 1100 mw, of which 554 mw is in India. This includes 414 mw of wind projects across Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat, and a 130 mw solar project in Telangana. It is close to completing a 130 mw solar project in Karnataka.
The enterprise value of the Indian assets has been set at Rs 5,500-6,000 crore, or about Rs 8 crore per mw, the source added.
Nebras Power was set up in 2014 by three leading Qatar companies — Qatar Electricity and Water Co (40%), Qatar Petroleum International (20%) and Qatar Holding (20%) — and mandated to invest in large-scale power and water projects around the world. Among other investments, Nebras has a substantial holding in a 52.5 mw solar project in Ma’an, Jordan, commissioned in 2016, and a 35% stake in a 2095 mw coal-fired plant in Java, Indonesia.
The Equis assets that Nebras seeks to acquire include 202.6 mw of solar assets in Japan, with another 88.5 mw under construction; 200.5 mw of solar and wind projects in the Philippines, with another 53.8 mw under construction; and 64 mw of solar projects in Thailand.