Investor interest continues in India, as European Investment firm ThomasLloyd buys stake in SolarArise

Marking its entry into the Indian Renewable sector, European Investment firm ThomasLloyd has reportedly acquired a stake in Delhi-based developer SolarArise.

Keeping financial details of the deal under the wraps, the Asia-focused investment firm ThomasLloyd said that it acquired a “significant stake” in Indian project developer SolarArise India Projects Pvt Ltd. The Investment company is based in London and Zurich, and has presence in 14 other locations in North America, Europe and Asia. It manages assets worth more than $3.4 billion.

The company statement says that the deal makes ThomasLloyd a major stake holder in SolarArise. SolarArise currently owns and operates 130 MW of grid-connected solar projects in India.

SolarArise’s existing shareholders include Core Infrastructure India Fund (CIIF) and Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF). The two shareholders had held a stake of about 97% in the company, according to the data research platform of VCCircle.

ThomasLloyd’s added investment is expected to help SolarArise expand its solar capacity by about 250 MW, which will be a mix of government and state sector projects and selected private sector projects with long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

“Our strategy has always been to build a portfolio consisting of high-quality, medium-sized, grid-connected assets with long-term diversified PPAs,” said Nandita Sahgal Tully, managing director of merchant banking at ThomasLloyd.

ThomasLloyd said that beyond the current identified portfolio, it has the scope to expand capacity in excess of 1 GW of grid-connected solar for the fast-growing Indian market.

Read: Shortfall prediction. India’s Renewable Capacity to reach 140 GW by 2023 – CRISIL Report

India’s renewable energy sector has recorded more activity over the past few years, especially after the government set the 175 GW capacity addition target. The 175 GW target for 2022 includes 100 GW from solar power and 60 GW from wind. Many companies are trying to form deals or partnerships in the renewable sector owing to the growing power demands on the nation. Despite policy lapses and delays in the sector, renewable sector has seen resilience in growth.

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