Masdar, Gentari, others eye majority stake in Ayana Renewable Power

The NIIF owns Ayana with 51% stake, while British International Investment (formerly CDC Group) holds 32% and Eversource Capital-managed Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) holds 17%.

ET Bureau

StanC Advising Shareholders
To date, the three investors together have made a capital commitment of $721 million in the company.

Founded in 2018 and based in Bengaluru, Ayana develops utility scale solar, wind and renewable energy hybrid projects across to build cost-effective capacity.

When contacted, spokespersons at Masdar and Brookfield declined to comment. Emails sent to Sembcorp, Gentari, PSP Investments and NIIF did not elicit any response until the publication of this report.

Ayana has a total pipeline of more than 4 GW of solar, wind and hybrid power projects across several states and has an operational capacity of 1.3 GW of renewable energy in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

Standard Chartered Bank is advising Ayana's existing shareholders on the proposed exit.

Investors in Ayana Renewable Power are likely to offload a part of their stake to raise as much as $800 million to meet expansion plans, ET first reported in August last year.

Ayana has expanded its portfolio through multiple acquisitions - First Solar Group (40 MW), Renew Group (300 MW), ACME Group (250 MW), Phelan Group (50 MW) and Rays Power Group (100 MW).

As of November 2023-end, the company operates a renewable energy portfolio of 1.3 GW and has an under-construction pipeline of 3.0 GW, comprising 1.7 GW solar assets, 0.4 GW wind assets, 0.5 GW hybrid assets and 0.4 GW round-the-clock (RTC) assets.

Revenue visibility
The entire operating capacity of 1.3 GW has long-term power purchase deals at a fixed tariff, thereby providing long-term revenue visibility and eliminating offtake risks for the company, said a recent CARE Ratings report. The operational portfolio has a weighted average track record of 42 months, with satisfactory operational performance in line with designed energy estimates, it added.

Masdar, also known as the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co, had a presence in the Indian green energy space with a holding of about 20% in Hero Future Energies - ownership it exited once KKR invested in the company. Masdar is owned by the UAE government's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co.

"India's goal of adding 500 gigawatt of clean energy in the next seven years is a true and a powerful statement of intent. As one of the largest investors in renewable energy, the UAE and Masdar (renewable energy investing firm) will explore all opportunities of partnership with India to contribute to its high-growth low-carbon pathway," said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE minister of state and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Group CEO, last month.

Gentari, the renewable energy arm of Malaysian energy major Petronas, has been expanding its presence in India with new investments. In October, Gentari, Singapore sovereign wealth fund , and the founders of Greenko Energy agreed to invest about $2 billion in AM Green, a green ammonia production platform.

Of this, $1.5 billion is likely to come from Malaysia's state-owned energy company, ET had reported. Last year, Gentari had tied up with ReNew Energy for a 50:50 joint venture for 5 GW of renewable capacity in India.

Gentari also owns Amplus Solar, with a portfolio of more than 1.4 GW of distributed solar assets, serving more than 300 industrial and commercial clients.

Sembcorp has a portfolio in India with 4.2 GW of gross installed renewables capacity, which includes 2.4 GW of wind and 1.8 GW of solar assets.

Key deals in sector
Other potential deals in the Indian renewable energy space include Brookfield's proposed sale of 2 GW portfolio, Shell's move to offload a significant stake in Sprng Energy, and Italian group Enel's plans to sell its 750 MW operational assets locally.

India has attracted investments to the tune of Rs 1.32 lakh crore in the renewable energy sector in the past three years. India's installed renewable energy capacity is expected to increase to about 170 GW by March 2025 from 132 GW in October 2023, according to research agency ICRA.

India is expected to see an increase of more than 83% in investments in to around $16.5 billion in 2024 as the country focuses on energy transition.