Greenko’s $300-mn deal to buy AT Capital-backed Orange Renewable falls through

By Keshav Sunkara

  • 11 Sep 2018
Credit: Pixabay

Renewable energy major Greenko Group has abandoned plans to buy AT Capital-backed Orange Renewable Power Pvt. Ltd, according to a media report.

Mint quoted Greenko founder Mahesh Kolli as saying that the contract had expired because of a “technical” reason, but did not provide further details.

Greenko had in June agreed to acquire Orange Renewable for an equity value of $300 million (about Rs 2,000 crore). The deal’s enterprise value, including debt, was pegged at around $922 million.

Mint reported that with the deal falling through, investment bank Rothschild has now kickstarted the process to find a fresh buyer for Orange Renewable.

VCCircle has reached out to Greenko and Orange Renewable for comment and will update the article as and when a response is received.

Orange Renewable was founded by Arvind Tiku, who also started private equity firm AT Capital.

New Delhi-headquartered Orange Renewable is a fully-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based AT Holdings Pte. Ltd. 

As of June this year, Orange Renewable had 907 megawatt of solar and wind power assets under operation and near completion.

Greenko is backed by sovereign wealth funds GIC Holdings Pte Ltd and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). 

Both GIC and ADIA have invested heavily in Greenko in recent years. 

In June, Greenko raised about $447 million (Rs 3,000 crore) in equity funding from the two parties.

Hyderabad-based Greenko owns and operates renewable energy assets across wind, solar and hydro segments. It has an installed capacity of 3.2 gigawatt across 13 states, according to its website.

Deal activity

Greenko is one of several renewable energy companies in India that are expanding, buoyed by the government's target of setting up 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind capacity by 2022 as part of an initiative to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

This has also triggered a wave of consolidation in the sector.

Earlier this year, Greenko rival ReNew Power Ltd agreed to buy Ostro Energy Pvt. Ltd from private equity firm Actis in a $1.5 billion deal.

VCCircle reported in June that solar panel maker Waaree Energies Ltd was in talks with at least two renewable energy companies to sell its power generation assets after talks with ReNew Power fell through over a valuation mismatch.