Japan’s Orix Buys 873 Megawatts Of Wind Capacity In Indian Stressed Asset Sale
Credit to Author: Saurabh| Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2019 15:41:12 +0000
Published on August 27th, 2019 | by Saurabh
August 27th, 2019 by Saurabh
The spiraling liquidity crunch and ‘bad loans’ problem in India has forced one of the companies to sell its wind energy assets.
Image: Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica.com
Japanese financial company Orix has a 51% stake in IL&FS Wind Energy Limited, a subsidiary of the troubled financial company Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited. With this acquisition, Orix now holds the entire 100% stake in IL&FS Wind Energy and gives it complete control over an operational capacity of 873 megawatts.
IL&FS Wind Energy owned the wind energy capacity through 7 special purpose vehicles in which Orix already had a 49% stake. According to earlier reports, government-owned gas utility GAIL had also expressed interest in the complete acquisition of IL&FS Wind Energy. GAIL is believed to have worth Rs 4,800 crore (US$670 million). However, as Orix was already an existing shareholder in the company and had the first right of refusal, which it successfully exercised.
IL&FS slipped into deep financial trouble and was dragged to India’s bankruptcy court by creditors after it failed to service its debt obligations. A subsidiary IL&FS Financial Services has around US$2.63 billion to various companies with little to no hope of getting that back. The group company itself carries a debt of around US$14 billion and is now looking to monetize physicals assets, like power projects and land, to repay that debt.
In a , Orix stated that it has acquired the remaining stake in IL&FS Wind Energy due to the high growth potential available in the Indian market. The Indian government has set ambitious goals for wind as well as solar power in the coming decade which is the primary reason behind this transaction, the company noted.
Liquidity crunch and the inability to service debt is an epidemic spreading rapidly through the Indian economy with several companies operating at the brink of collapse. We covered the story of which is reportedly planning a stressed sale as well.
Within the renewable energy market, several well-placed companies and leaders in the sector are looking to raise funds by selling assets into a after scrapping plans to raise funds from the equity market.
Saurabh An avid follower of latest developments in the Indian renewable energy sector.