May 19, 2019
The assets, spread over 12 sites across seven Indian states, were mainly operated by IL&FS Wind Energy
GAIL had offered around US$690 million for the assets with combined output capacity of about 874 MW
The sale to ORIX is subject to approval of the National Company Law Tribunal and other relevant entities
More than 21 per cent of India’s current total power capacity of over 350 GW is made up of renewables
Orix Corp, which owns a 49 per cent stake in each of the seven operational wind power plants run by the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) Group, has offered to buy the remaining stake held by IL&FS Wind Energy. The deal to buy the 51 per cent stake comes under ORIX’s right as per the terms of an existing agreement wherein it can match the price offered by the highest bidder for purchasing IL&FS Wind Energy’s stake in the wind assets. GAIL (India), the nation’s largest state-run gas utility, had won an auction to acquire the seven wind assets in April amid efforts to expand in the renewable energy space.
GAIL had offered around US$690 million for the assets with combined output capacity of about 874 MW, or at an average rate of 7 US cents per kilowatt hour. The assets, distributed over 12 sites across seven Indian states, were primarily operated by IL&FS Wind Energy. The deal with GAIL did not include IL&FS’s 104 MW under-construction wind energy project, apart from solar energy assets of around 300 MW. The construction firm also operates a renewable energy engineering, procurement and construction business and is running a separate sale process for the rest of its renewable businesses to meet financial targets.
The sale to ORIX will be subject to approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) as well as other relevant entities. Closure of the sale process is expected by June 2019. The Government has the goal to move 40 per cent of the nation’s installed electricity capacity to renewable resources by 2030. Currently, more than 21 per cent of India’s total generation capacity of over 350 GW is represented by renewables. Meanwhile, the nation is ahead of schedule to set up 175 GW of new renewable capacity by 2022. India is placed 5th globally for installed renewable capacity, with 4th ranking in wind power and 5th in solar.