Adani Green completes Rs 26,000 crore acquisition of SB Energy India’s green assets

Adani Green Energy (AGEL), the renewable energy arm of the Adani Group, said on Monday that it has completed the acquisition of SB Energy India, which houses 4,954 megawatt (MW) of renewable energy projects across the country for around Rs 26,000 crore ($3.5 billion).

The deal, first announced in May, marks the largest acquisition in the renewable energy sector in India helping AGEL achieve a total renewable capacity of 19,800 MW, with 5,400 MW of operational and the remaining capacity comprising under-construction assets.

The SoftBank Group-owned 80% SB Energy India while the remaining stake was held by the Bharti Group. AGEL had earlier informed analysts that the acquisition is an all-cash deal and was to be funded through internal accruals and investment from Total in FY21. French energy giant Total has acquired 20% minority interest in AGEL from Adani Group for around $2 billion. The transaction followed a total investment of $510 million in April 2020 for the acquisition of a 50% stake in AGEL’s operational solar projects in the country.

Out of SB India’s total portfolio, only 1,700 MW are operational and the balance is under construction. The company’s operational and upcoming projects are located in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. All projects have 25-year power purchase agreements with sovereign rated counterparties such as Solar Energy Corporation of India, NTPC and NHPC, supplying power at an average tariff of Rs 2.75/unit.

“This transaction takes us closer to becoming the global leader in renewables,” said Vneet S Jaain, managing director and CEO, AGEL.

Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group said on Monday that over the next decade, the company will invest over $20 billion in renewable energy generation, and its overall investments across the entire green energy value chain will range between $50 and 70 billion.

“This will include investments with potential partners for electrolyser manufacturing, backward integrations to secure the supply chain for our solar and wind generation businesses, and AI-based industrial cloud platforms,” Adani said.

In FY21, AGEL acquired 205 MW solar plants from Essel Group, 75 MW solar plants from Sterling and Wilson, 50 MW solar plants from SkyPower Global and 20 MW solar plants from Hindustan Power Projects.