Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower weighs sale of wind portfolio
NEWDELHI: NuPower Renewables Pvt. Ltd is exploring the sale of its wind power portfolio, said two people aware of the development.
The renewable power company has tasked Ambit Capital with finding a buyer, one of the two people cited above said, requesting anonymity. NuPower has denied any such move.
“NuPower has been exploring a stake dilution opportunity and has been in talks with potential buyers for a partial or complete sale of its wind portfolio,” said a second person aware of the development who also requested anonymity.
Deepak Kochhar, founder and chief executive of NuPower Group, said: “There is no mandate given to Ambit. We are not selling any wind assets.” He was responding to queries in a text message.
In response to a question about Ambit’s role in finding a buyer, a company spokesperson said in an emailed response: “We do not comment on speculation.”
Recent news reports have raised questions about ICICI Bank Ltd sanctioning loans to Videocon group. Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot allegedly had dealings with NuPower, founded by Kochhar, who is the husband of ICICI Bank chief executive officer and managing director Chanda Kochhar. Mint couldn’t independently ascertain the veracity of these allegations. To be sure, NuPower had explored the sale of its wind power projects in the past without success.
According to information available on NuPower’s website, it has around 700 megawatts (MW) of clean energy portfolio. Of this, the firm has an operational wind power capacity of around 177.85MW. It has also manufactured 2.05MW wind turbines with German technology from Wind to Energy GmbH.
India’s wind power sector is going through a phase of consolidation, partly triggered by record low green energy tariffs in government auctions.