Singapore- based renewable company Equis Energy, which has close to 900 MW of assets in India will sell the entire portfolio of 11,135 MW to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading independent infrastructure investor for $5 billion. This is till date the largest deal in the renewable energy sector.
Equis Energy is one of the largest renewable energy independent power producers in the Asia-Pacific region. It has operations in Japan, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Thailand.
In a statement, GIP said its fund Global Infrastructure Partners III in conjunction with the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers, CIC Capital Corporation and a group of its other limited partner co-investors “has agreed to acquire 100 per cent of the equity interests in the wind and solar renewable energy portfolio of Equis Funds Group for US$3.7 billion.”
Equis said the deal also included liabilities worth US$1.3 billion thereby taking the deal size to US$5 billion.
Equis Energy has developed a portfolio of 1900 MW of operational, construction and shovel-ready solar PV and onshore wind assets globally. It also has pipeline of over 115 projects totalling 9100 MW. In India, Equis had an operational portfolio of 900 MW which includes 414 MW of wind projects it acquired from Energon and 350 MW from Soleq in India.
“The investment by GIP and its partners is exciting news for the development of renewable energy in the Asia‐Pacific. GIP has a strong track record of managing and growing utility‐scale infrastructure businesses, and the combination of experience and knowledge across GIP and the existing management team will allow Equis Energy to continue expanding competitively across its target markets,” David Russell, CEO of Equis and chairman of Equis Energy said in a public statement.
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory closing conditions, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, the company said.
Adebayo Ogunlesi, chairman and managing partner of GIP said: “Equis Energy is a unique success story in the APAC region as it has systematically executed its growth strategy since its founding five years ago. We look forward to continuing the Equis Energy success story in the years to come and to supporting new growth opportunities in one of the most promising renewable energy markets in the world.”