Shell eyes Fourth Partner Energy; CLP in race for Essel Infra’s transmission biz

By Keshav Sunkara

  • 22 Feb 2018

Oil and energy major Royal Dutch Shell Plc is looking to acquire a majority stake in Hyderabad-based rooftop solar firm Fourth Partner Energy Pvt. Ltd, Mint reported, citing two people aware of the development.

Fourth Partner was founded in 2010 by Vivek Subramanian, Saif Dhorajiwala and Vikas Saluguti. It offers financial structuring, design, turnkey execution and servicing of rooftop solar power systems.

In 2015, the company raised $2 million (Rs 13.2 crore) in its Series A round of funding led by Infuse Ventures, an early-stage cleantech investment firm associated with the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIM Ahmedabad’s tech incubator.

The company’s consolidated total income stood at Rs 103.4 crore and profit after tax was Rs 3.4 crore in the year through March 2017.

In another report, Mint said CLP India Pvt. Ltd is looking to acquire Essel Infraprojects Ltd’s power transmission business at a valuation of around $1 billion.

Citing people aware of the development, the report said that renewable energy firm Greenko Group is also interested in the power transmission asset.

Essel Infraprojects has five transmission projects in its portfolio, according to the report.

CLP India is a wholly owned subsdiary of Hong Kong-listed CLP Holdings Ltd. CLP entered India in 2002 when it acquired a 655-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Gujarat’s Bharuch.

CLP India has operational and committed renewable energy capacity of more than 1,000 megawatt. Its only solar power project, with a capacity of 100 MW, is under construction in Telangana. It has a thermal energy capacity of 1,975 megawatt, according to its website.

Earlier this month, Mint had reported that renewable energy firms Greenko Group and Hero Future Energies are looking to acquire the solar business of Essel Infraprojects.

Meanwhile, automotive components maker Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd may be up for sale in a month, Mint reported, citing two people aware of the development. Tata Group is in talks to select an investment bank to conduct the sale process, the report said.

As on 31 March 2017, Tata Motors held a 26% stake in Pune-based Tata AutoComp Systems.

Tata AutoComp has five joint ventures with global auto component makers. It has over 33 manufacturing facilities spread across India and China, according to its website.