Solar developer Adani Green Energy has announced plans to buy SoftBank-backed renewable energy company SB Energy Holdings in a deal with an enterprise value of US$3.5 billion.
The acquisition includes a renewable project portfolio with a total capacity of close to 5GW spread across four states in India.
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Adani Green Energy said on Wednesday (19 May) that it would buy an 80% stake in the business from SoftBank Group, and the remaining 20% from Indian conglomerate Bharti Group.
The company said it is India’s largest renewable energy acquisition to-date, consisting of 4,180MW of solar projects, 1,400MW of which is already online. It also includes 450MW of solar-wind hybrid projects, and 324MW of wind power plants. SoftBank has invested more than US$800 million in its energy subsidiary in the past five years.
All projects will supply electricity to sovereign counterparties including Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd, NTPC Limited and NHPC Limited through a series of 25-year power purchase agreements.
Gautam Adani, Adani Group’s chairman, said that the acquisition will support the company’s aim to become “the world’s largest solar player by 2025 and thereafter the world’s largest renewable company by 2030.” Adani Green Energy’s renewables capacity stands at around 3,245MW, and analysis from consultancy JMK Research has shown that it currently has India’s largest operating portfolio of utility-scale solar and wind assets. The company has received interest from French oil and gas major Total, which acquired a 20% stake in the company at the start of the year. The Paris-headquartered firm has previously formed a joint venture with the developer in October 2020.
This latest deal, the company said, will enable Adani Green Energy to reach its target of 25GW of renewable power capacity four years ahead of schedule.
This will also be bolstered by the development of 3GW of PV capacity that was secured in an auction in the state of Andhra Pradesh last February. In addition, Adani Green Energy raised a US$1.35 billion debt package in March from a dozen global banks to support the construction of a 1.69GW hybrid portfolio of solar and wind projects in Rajasthan.
The Adani chairman said that its newly expanded portfolio of projects will “lay the foundation for attracting several other global industries that are increasingly looking to reduce their carbon footprint”, as well as open up the potential to expand into hydrogen production and battery energy storage.