A Warburg Pincus-affiliated company and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have sold their stakes in Indian renewable energy company CleanMax to Augment Infrastructure for INR16.5bn (€189m).
The US investment firm will acquire a majority stake in the Mumbai-based solar rooftop developer from Yellow Bell Investment, which is owned by Warburg Pincus. Warburg Pincus in 2017 advanced around US$100m (€m) in equity funding to CleanMax.
Additionally, Augment Infrastructure is to invest alongside CleanMax in offsite renewables, such as wind-solar hybrid projects, in a number of Indian states.
“This is Augment Infrastructure’s first investment in an Indian commercial and industrial renewable energy company,” said Darius Lilaoonwala, managing partner of Augment Infrastructure.
In the joint statement with Augment Infrastructure, Kuldeep Jain, founder and managing director of CleanMax, said: “We continue to value our relationship with Warburg Pincus and IFC, who reposed trust in the management team and the business model in the initial days of CleanMax’s growth.
“We are happy to note that both global investors will secure an exit, which is always a responsibility of the management team to deliver.”
UK Climate Investments (UKCI) will continue as an investor and have a representative on the board of Cleanmax, said the statement.
UKCI, a joint venture between Green Investment Group and the UK government’s department of business, energy and industrial strategy, is managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA).
CleanMax was founded in 2011. The companies portfolio includes 380MW of large-scale solar farms in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and 220MW of solar rooftop projects. Recently it expanded into the Middle East, and is planning its first project in Thailand as it expands into Southeast Asia.
CleanMax chief financial officer, Nikuni Ghodawat, said capital raised from the transaction would support its “strategic expansion efforts to continue building our customer base and add around 400MW of new capacity annually”.
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