Acme appoints EY to sell InvIT stake
₹10,800 crore), two people aware of the development said, in what may rank among the largest green energy deals in India. The Acme Solar InvIT will be privately listed and will be sponsored by India’s largest pure-play solar platform Acme and incoming investors. The InvIT will house 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of operating solar assets.
InvITs manage income-generating infrastructure assets, typically offering investors a regular yield and a liquid method of investing in infrastructure projects. “Initial conversations are ongoing with select investors," said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity. Investors have been eyeing the InvIT route, with KKR & Co.-backed India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) being the country’s first listed power sector InvIT.
An EY spokesperson declined comment while queries emailed to the spokesperson of Acme Group remained unanswered till press time. Founded in 2003 by Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, Acme Solar has 8.5GW of operational and under-development projects. The company has been trying to raise funds and had earlier given a formal mandate to Rothschild & Co.
to raise $500 million equity by selling a stake in Acme Cleantech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Acme Solar was earlier also looking to sell 4.84GW of solar projects, with Cantor Fitzgerald (Hong Kong) Capital Markets Ltd running the sale process.
India has emerged as the preferred green energy investment destination given the number of deals in play as reported by Mint. According to Invest India, currently there is an investment opportunity of around $216 billion in the renewable energy space in India. Data showed that 467 renewable energy projects are underway across 230 districts in the country with 150 promoters.
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