Mumbai: Neev Fund, an infrastructure private equity fund, on Tuesday said it has invested an undisclosed amount in Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd (PRESPL).
The fund is managed by SBICAP Ventures Ltd, the alternative asset management business of SBI Capital Markets Ltd. Its mandate is to invest in eight low income and developing states in India with a focus on infrastructure sub-sectors such as renewable energy, agricultural supply chain, healthcare, education, and urban infrastructure.
PRESPL is an end-to-end biomass value chain management company involved in collection, processing, storage and supply of agricultural residues such as paddy straw, cotton-stalk, soya-husk, maize-cob, and mustard stalk to biomass-based power plants and processing industries such as pharmaceuticals, distilleries, and sugar.
The company provides biomass as a raw material to clients for generation of bio-energy or for conversion into biofuel. It handles the supply of more than 1,000 metric tonnes of biomass per day.
“This will help us scale the business and expand into other geographies, especially India’s less developed states. We particularly welcome Neev’s laser sharp focus on ESG (environmental, social and governance) aspects of business that will help us grow the company into a world class institution," said Lt. Col Monish Ahuja (retd), managing director of PRESPL. “We are confident that with this investment, we will be able to maintain our leadership position in the biomass supply chain..."
This will be Neev Fund’s 10th investment and its fourth in the renewable energy sector.
“Surplus biomass can be used by power plants to produce power and new generation refineries to produce bio-ethanol. However, continuous availability of biomass remains a challenge. PRESPL will address this market barrier by guaranteeing biomass supply throughout the year... This ties in closely with Neev Fund’s vision for development," said Manav Bansal, chief investment officer of Neev Fund.
