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Global Infrastructure Partners GIP -led consortium buys Equis Energy for 5 billion

A consortium led by US fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has agreed to buy Singapore-headquartered renewable energy company Equis Energy for a record $5 billion including debt. 

Equis Energy has 11,135 mw of green energy capacity—including commissioned, under construction and under-development projects—across seven countries. The company has commissioned solar and wind projects of about 1,100 mw in the Asia Pacific region, of which 544 mw are in India. Its assets had been on the block for several months. In what is the largest deal in the clean energy sector, the GIP-led consortium will pay $3.7 billion in cash to Equis and take over its liabilities of $1.3 billion. 

“The transaction is the largest renewable energy generation acquisition in history and positions GIP as a dominant renewable energy developer in the key OECD growth markets of Australia and Japan, as well as across India and South-East Asia,” Equis said in a press release.  The other members of the consortium include Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board, one of its largest pension investment managers, CIC Capital Corporation, also a Canada-based private equity firm, and China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation.   

In India, Equis has 414 mw of wind projects, including two in Andhra Pradesh (100 mw and 54 mw), two in Madhya Pradesh (108 mw and 26 mw), and one each in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat (30 mw, 46 mw and 50 mw, respectively). It has a 130 mw solar project in Telangana and is close to commissioning another 130 mw solar project in Karnataka. The company has another 356 mw under development in the country, taking its total renewable energy capacity (commissioned and under development) in India to 900 mw across 14 projects.  The other countries in which Equis has projects, either commissioned or under construction, are the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Taiwan.  A number of Indian companies, including the Adani Group and Hero Future Energy, had been in the fray for Equis’ Indian assets. 

Some industry executives said that since none of the consortium partners has a presence in India’s renewable energy sector, the Indian assets will probably be resold. Equis’ decision to sell had sparked a global race to acquire its assets. Among the others that had evinced interest included Royal Dutch Shell and Japan's Softbank; financial services giant Orix Corporation in Japan and Dutch pension fund APG; the Adani Group and Qatar-based Nebras Power, US-based PE fund I Squared Capital along with Thailand's Electricity Generation Plc and Japan's Mitsubishi; France's energy major Engie and China's State Power Investment Corporation.