Investor KKR has picked up a 317MW portfolio of solar assets in India from Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital (SP Infra) in a deal valued at US$204 million.
The portfolio comprises 169MW of solar in Maharashtra and a further 148MW in Tamil Nadu, spread across five separate operational assets. No specific details of the assets in question were forthcoming.
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The deal marks KKR’s second investment in India under its infrastructure strategy in Asia, targeting assets in the transportation, energy and telecom sectors, amongst others. The firm has been steadily racking up deals in the solar sector, having invested in NextEra’s US-based portfolio last year after acquiring a major stake in Spain’s Acciona in 2014.
Sanjay Nayar, chief executive at KKR India, said that the firm believed now was an attractive time to invest in India’s solar market given the country’s ambitious targets in the area.
India maintains a much-vaunted target of attaining 175GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, a goal set in place by PM Narendra Modi and one most industry representatives consider highly unlikely to be achieved.
SP Infra, the infrastructure capital arm of Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji, has been a mainstay of India’s large-scale solar sector and a frequent competitor in the country’s famously competitive solar tenders.
Its sale of assets to KKR follows last year’s deal with Actis, which saw SP Infra sell a further 194MW of solar in the country.
