Indian Solar Market becomes Favorite Hunting Ground for large Financial Global Funds

Acquisitions – Indian Solar Assets

The Indian solar market has been growing at a torrid pace over the last few years driven by favorable government policies and rapidly falling prices which have gone below that of coal. With more than 50% of India’s new power capacity developed last year coming from solar, foreign funds are scouting the market for solar assets in the growing market.

While some financial investors like Goldman, Morgan Stanley and others have been present in India for some time through platforms such as Renew Power, etc., new global infrastructure investors are also picking up assets. The latest one being Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) which is looking to buy Rattan India’s solar assets which total around 300 MW. Rattan India has been facing a lot of distress in recent times with its thermal power assets in Maharashtra laden with payment difficulties to debtors. The group is quickly looking to deleverage its balance sheet and selling its assets. The group is reportedly seeking around INR 2,000 crores in enterprise value for its solar portfolio.

Also, read “Pick and Choose” Solar Auctions by Indian States Drive Developers up the Wall

Petronas, the Malaysian oil giant bought Amplus Partners last month, which has a large rooftop and open access solar portfolio in India marking its entry into India’s renewable energy market. There is a rapid churn in India’s solar developer market with many players exiting the market now as solar development enters a somewhat maturity phase with large developers consolidating the market around themselves using financial heft and scale as competitive barriers against smaller and newer players.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) already has an Indian presence after it bought the asset management arm of IDFC last year and owns a number of infrastructure assets such as roads, ports, etc. through this investment. Besides Rattan India, French power major Engie, is also looking to sell its 600 MW plus solar portfolio in India and is in talks with PE giant Actis and Edelweiss infra fund.

The solar development market constantly needs a rapid infusion of funds for expansion and smaller players are having a tough time to stay in the market given the constant capital needs. Developers are tapping various sources such as PE, multilateral banks such as IFC, ADB as well as pension funds to meet their needs. The public markets have not helped as most of the large developers have failed to list despite planning for large IPOs. Renew Power, Acme and Shapoorji Pallonji have been planning IPOs for a long time without any success. Azure Power is the only solar developer which has managed to list in the public markets with a listing in the US markets. Its performance has not been great with its stock losing ~50% of its value since listing, as India’s hypercompetitive solar market makes it difficult to achieve decent profitability.

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