Sprng Buys Shapoorji Pallonji’s 194 MW Operational Solar Assets

Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital (SP Infra) has sold 194 MW of operating solar portfolio to Sprng Energy, a renewable energy platform in India by London-based private equity firm Actis.

The deal size has not been disclosed. However, media reports suggest that solar asset’s enterprise value is close to $200 Million or over Rs. 13.8 billion, and equity payout close to $70 million or Rs 4.84 billion rupees has been made last week.

“A year ago, we decided to divest a part of our operating portfolio in order to redeploy capital for the development of new solar projects. We continue to see large opportunities for the growth of the renewable sector in our country, and the sale to a discerning infrastructure investor highlights our commitment towards development and operation of high-quality renewable energy projects in India,” said Mukundan Srinivasan, MD and CEO of SP Infra. “The acquisition of this portfolio is in line with Actis’ commitment of building 2GW+ of renewable power projects in India. With this acquisition, the total operating and under-construction capacity of Sprng Energy, our 100 percent owned renewable platform, will increase to 1,650 MW and we continue to look for opportunities to grow this portfolio further through both M&A and new bids” said Sanjiv Aggarwal, Partner Energy Asia, Actis.

Sprng is Actis’ second India renewable focused platform after successfully building and exiting Ostro Energy.

The deal for the Shapoorji’s assets that have been up for sale since 2017, and marks the first acquisition by one of India’s largest clean energy platforms. It also comes after Actis sold its first green energy firm Ostro Energy to ReNew Power Ventures at an enterprise value of $1.5 billion last year. With this acquisition, Sprng has a 1.65 gigawatts (GW) portfolio, of which 1.45GW is under various stages of construction. Actis has plans to grow Sprng Energy to 2GW, has committed $2.1 billion to India and has been operating in the energy, financial services and real estate sectors.

Whereas, Sprng has a total equity commitment of $475 million from Actis to build and operate more than 2GW of wind and solar projects in India.