Morgan Stanley to sell Continuum stake
Rgan Stanley has und 83% stake lean energy tform Continuum en Energy
US investment bank gan Stanley has hired Citik to find a buyer for its rity stake in Continuum n Energy (India) Pvt. Ltd, people aware of the matter
Partners’ (GIP) Indian clean energy platform Vector Green Energy.
Also, Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) recently announced its plan to purchase 19.4% stake in Nyselisted Azure Power Global Ltd for $219 million and Thailand’s state owned energy major PTT Group announced its acquisition of 41.6% stake in Avaada Energy Pvt. Ltd for around $454 million.
“Citibank has been given the mandate for selling Morgan Stanley’s stake in Continuum Green Energy. The process has started,” said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity. The Continuum stake sale plans have been on for some time now. Renew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd had evinced interest in buying Morgan Stanley’s majority stake in Continuum Green Energy, as reported by Mint earlier. Norway’s state-run electricity firm Statkraft and
Us-based renewable energy producer Sunedison Inc. had previously tried to acquire Continuum.
Spokespersons for Morgan Stanley and Citibank declined comment.
“We do not comment on market speculation,” Continuum’s chief executive officer Bansal said in a Whatsapp message in response to a query on Morgan Stanley’s stake sale plans.
“As a policy, we do not comment on market speculation,” a Renew Power spokesperson said in an emailed response.
The investors’ interest in India’s green economy continues unabated in the backdrop of a growing demand for electricity. India is running the world’s largest clean energy programme and has an installed solar power generation capacity of 42.335 GW, 36.884 GW under implementation, and 19.761 GW under the tendering process.
In a reaffirmation of India’s push for green energy sources, solar and wind generation recorded an all-time high of 43.1 GW on July 27. The country’s solar energy generation is on an upward swing and increased by 54% from 39.27 billion units (BUS) in 2018-19 to 60.40 BU in 2020-21.
As reported by Mint, there are a raft of green energy deals in play. These include the promoters of Cleantech Solar Energy planning to sell their controlling stake in the green energy firm backed by Royal Dutch Shell and Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp among suitors for Warburg Pincus LLC’S majority stake in rooftop solar power producer Cleanmax Enviro Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Also, Norway’s state-owned Norfund and TPG Capital’s The Rise Fund announced their $100 million and $25 million investment, respectively, in Hyderabadbased Fourth Partner Energy recently.
Earlier, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners had hired investment bank Moelis to sell its stake in Continuum Wind Energy, two people aware of the matter said.
The company, which manages over $4 billion globally, had invested $212 million in Singapore-based Continuum Wind in 2012. Continuum, which focuses on India, was founded in 2009 by Arvind Bansal and Vikash Saraf.
“They (Morgan Stanley) have appointed investment bank Moelis to find a buyer for the wind platform. They have tried to sell the platform earlier too but the process did not meet success due to external factors. In between, the founders too were looking to buy out the majority stake owned by Morgan Stanley,” said the first of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity as the talks are private.