Amplus Energy may raise up to $100 mn

MUMBAI: Rooftop solar energy company Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd is in talks to raise $100 million, said two people aware of the development.

“The company has been in talks with investors, both financial and strategic to raise around $50-100 million, which will help the company grow beyond its current portfolio of under 100 megawatts (MW) of distributed generation assets,” one of the two people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. Amplus was infrastructure fund I Squared Capital’s first bet in India. The fund committed to invest $150 million in the firm in August 2015.

Distributed renewable energy generation (rooftop energy generation) is attracting strong interest as the market has few developers with significant portfolios, making it a good time to raise funds, he said. Investment bank Jefferies is advising Amplus on the fund raising, he added.

Emails sent on Friday to I Squared Capital’s partner Gautam Bhandari and India head Harsh Aggarwal were not answered. Emails and text messages sent to Sanjeev Aggarwal, MD and CEO at Amplus, too went unanswered.

Jefferies declined to comment. With I Squared Capital’s support, Amplus has grown its portfolio through both greenfield projects and acquisitions.

In June 2016, Mint reported that Amplus had bought American solar power developer SunEdison Inc’s roof-top solar power assets of 7 MW spread across states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

The acquisition provided Amplus access to large clients such as Whirlpool, Intel, Standard Chartered and Delhi Metro. Other major clients include WalMart Stores Inc, Yamaha Corp. and Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

In the report cited above, Aggarwal of Amplus said his company is looking to build a portfolio of 150-200 MW in the next 24 months. According to the company’s website, Amplus has around 120 MW of operational and under-construction projects, and over 70 customers.

The renewable energy space has recently seen rising interest from investors. In July, Mint reported that Warburg Pincus, the New York-based PE firm, is investing $100 million in rooftop solar developer CleanMax Solar.

Others that have shown interest include Japanese financial services firm ORIX Corp, which plans to set up a joint venture firm with SUN Renewables for setting up solar power projects.