Adani concludes India’s largest renewables M&A transaction

Adani Green Energy has completed the acquisition of 5 GW of solar and wind assets from SB Energy India for $3.5 billion, marking the largest renewables M&A deal in the country. The acquisition swells Adani’s operational capacity by 46%.

October 4, 2021 Uma Gupta

A 648 MW Adani solar plant at Kamuthi, in Tamil Nadu, is one of the world's largest solar fields installed by a single company.

Image: Adani

Adani Green Energy Ltd, the world’s largest solar power developer, today announced it had completed the acquisition of SB Energy Holdings Ltd for an enterprise valuation of $3.5 billion (INR26,000 crore). The transaction marks India’s largest renewable energy acquisition.

SB Energy – formerly an 80:20 joint venture majority owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group, alongside New Delhi-headquartered conglomerate Bharti Group – has become a wholly-owned Adani subsidiary.

The target company, through its special purpose vehicles, has 5 GW of solar and wind energy assets across 15 projects in four Indian states. The renewables plants, with an average generation capacity of 330 MW, have 100% sovereign-rated counter-parties to purchase their energy and sell electricity for an average tariff of INR2.75 per kilowatt-hour.

The acquisition boosts Adani’s operational portfolio to 5.4 GW, and its total clean power development pipeline to 19.8 GW, including 5.4 GW of operational assets, 5.7 GW under construction, and 8.7 GW nearing construction. Adani’s counter-party mix for its overall, 19.8 GW portfolio is features 87% sovereign-rated counter-parties.

The SB Energy 5 GW portfolio includes 1.7 GW of operational project capacity, 2,554 MW under construction, and 700 MW nearing construction. Solar capacity accounts for 84% of the estate – some 4,180 MW; wind-solar hybrid capacity supplies 9% (450 MW), and wind capacity 7% (324 MW).

“This is one of India’s highest-quality renewable portfolios, with many of the assets being solar park-based projects and constructed using best-in-class governance, project development, construction and operations and maintenance standards,” said Adani.

The transaction followed Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani’s announcement last week of plans to invest more than $20 billion in renewable energy generation over the next decade.

“This transaction takes us closer to becoming the global leader in renewables,” said Adani managing director and CEO Vneet S Jaain. “The addition of these high-quality, large, utility scale assets from SB Energy India demonstrates Adani Green Energy’s intent to accelerate India’s efforts to transition towards a carbon-neutral future. Our renewable energy foundations will enable an entire ecosystem of new industries that can be expected to catalyze job creation in multiple sectors.”

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