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Adani Green buys SB Energy from Softbank and Bharti; firm valued at $3.5 bn

Deal for company with range of assets is biggest acquisition in India's renewable power sector.

Gautam Adani
With this acquisition, AGEL will achieve a renewable capacity of 24.3 Gw and an operating renewable capacity of 4.9 Gw, said the company in a public statement
Shreya Jai Mumbai and New Delhi
3 min read Last Updated : May 20 2021 | 2:50 AM IST
In one of the largest deals in renewable energy in India, Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) has acquired the portfolio of SB Energy at the enterprise value of $3.5 billion (Rs 25,574 crore approximately).

With this deal, SB Energy, a joint venture of SoftBank Group (SBG) and Bharti Enterprises created in 2015, will exit the Indian market.

Industry sources said SB Energy would no longer participate in project tenders in India.

SB Energy had been looking to sell its portfolio for close to two years, said executives. The company’s representations before the government for having dollar-based tariffs and awarding large capacities in bulk failed.

Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group, said: “This acquisition is another step towards the vision we stated in January 2020, wherein we laid out our plans to become the world’s largest solar player by 2025 and thereafter the world’s largest renewable company by 2030. We are well on our way to achieving our stated solar portfolio targets four years before the deadline we set for ourselves.”

SB Energy has renewable energy projects of 4,954 Mw, of which 4,180 Mw is solar, 324 Mw wind, and 450 Mw a hybrid of wind and solar. 

With this acquisition, AGEL will achieve a renewable capacity of 24.3 Gw and an operating renewable capacity of 4.9 Gw, said the company in a public statement.

AGEL said all the projects of SB Energy had 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with sovereign-rated counter-parties such as Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI), NTPC, and NHPC. The operating assets forming part of the portfolio are primarily solar park-based, it said.

Masayoshi Son, representative director, corporate officer, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp, said: “As SBG continues our transition to a global investment holding company focused on accelerating the deployment of artificial intelligence, we believe now is the right time to bring in the Adani Group to help drive the next phase of SB Energy India’s growth.”

AGEL has signed share-purchase agreements for acquiring a 100 per cent interest in SB Energy India from SoftBank Group (80 per cent) and Bharti Group (20 per cent).

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises, said: “I am delighted that SB Energy has found a good home to carry on its pioneering journey of building a foremost renewable energy company in India. Adani Group has an outstanding track record of building a green energy powerhouse, which will get further acceleration with the combination of SB Energy into its fold. I am glad that Bharti could play a constructive role in partnership with SoftBank.”

The last such large deal was when Tata Power in 2016 acquired the renewable energy assets of Welspun Energy for close to Rs 10,000 crore.

Topics :Adani Green EnergySoftBankrenewable energy

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