Former Religare chief held at airport; CPPIB-backed ReNew to get fresh funding

By Ankit Agarwal

  • 31 May 2019
Credit: 123RF.com

The police took former Religare Enterprises chief Sunil Godhwani into custody at the Delhi airport, stopping him from boarding an overseas flight, reports said.

In February, the Delhi police had filed a case against Godhwani, the subject of a lookout notice issued against him in the Fortis-Religare fraud case, on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust. The case was also filed against Religare’s erstwhile promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh. Godhwani was named chief executive of the company in September 2016.

In December last year, Religare and its subsidiary Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) had filed a complaint against Godhwani and the erstwhile promoters, stating that RFL had sanctioned loans to companies known to the Singh brothers but were never repaid. The loans to 19 entities are worth Rs 2,397 crore, with Rs 415 crore as interest.

Meanwhile, ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd’s previous investors Goldman Sachs, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority have agreed to pour $300 million (Rs 2,094 crore at current exchange rate) into the green energy company through a rights issue, people in the know told The Economic Times.

The report said that it is not clear if Japanese LNG major JERA, which bought a 10% stake in the company for $200 million in 2017, will invest. 

ReNew Power has more than 4,300 megawatts (MW) of operational capacity and under-construction clean-energy capacity of 3,200 MW across 16 states in India. ReNew Power counts among its investors Asian Development Bank and Global Environment Fund.