British International Investment (BII), the UK government’s development finance arm, has roped in the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF) to co-invest in its mezzanine debt financing for Blueleaf Energy, the renewable energy platform owned by Macquarie Asset Management, top executives told VCCircle.
The London-based DFI had agreed to provide a $75-million loan to aid Blueleaf Energy’s India expansion plans in October last year. It has now brought in EAAIF, managed by global investment firm Ninety One, to contribute 50% of the committed capital to the transaction underwritten by BII.
The move is in line with BII’s strategy to bring in more investors to co-finance transactions that support energy transition across India and Southeast Asia, Rohit Anand, managing director and head of Asia Infrastructure and Climate Direct Investments at BII, told VCCircle.
“It is not just about BII providing capital, but also about us structuring and originating transactions, which we think other responsible investors would then be interested in participating,” said Anand.
BII recently launched a new initiative, British Climate Partners (BCP), where it committed to invest £1.1 billion ($1.48 billion) in clean energy projects across India and Southeast Asia to infuse private capital for supporting energy transition in the region. As part of its “originate-to-share” approach, BII plans to deploy capital to unlock projects and then bring in institutional investors to help scale them.
The institution is also open to providing more capital to Blueleaf, if required.
“Oftentimes, when we do such transactions, we increase the size if the business performs well and the company grows and requires more capital. Blueleaf wants to grow manifold from where it is right now, and for that, if they require more support from BII or from our partners, then we would of course be open to looking at it,” he said.
Singapore-headquartered Blueleaf Energy operates in Southeast Asia, India, Taiwan, and Japan. Its utility-scale solar, wind and energy storage projects are expected to generate over 3.2 GWh of renewable energy annually. EAAIF’s investment will support the development of 850 MW of greenfield renewable energy capacity.
“We're very keen to support the energy transition in India, where it will be our fourth transaction in the sector,” said Martijn Proos, co-head of Emerging Market Alternative Credit at Ninety One. “Besides supporting the energy transition (to India’s goal of 500 GW of non-fossil-fuel capacity by 2030), it is also an interesting commercial opportunity.”
EAAIF is a blended-finance vehicle, structured as a public-private partnership. It is owned by the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), an organization funded by multiple government entities of the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden. Its day-to-day operations and deployment is taken care of by Ninety One (formerly Investec Asset Management).
Among other deals, it has previously provided a $10-million debt facility to Greenko Group.
“Renewal energy is one of our major sectors across funds. We have done that across Africa, Latin America, and also Asia. India, given the size of the market, is very attractive,” Proos said.
