IFC taking equity in Hero’s energy arm for $125 mn

International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, is taking an equity stake in Hero Future Energies, renewable energy (RE) arm of the Hero Group.

IFC, with IFC Global Infrastructure Fund, a private equity one and managed by IFC Asset Management Company, will invest $125 million (~850 crore) in equity, enabling the company to set up 1 Gw (1,000 Mw) of solar and wind energy units in the next 12 months, across India. “Our endeavour to achieve a new goal of 2.7 Gw in RE capacity by 2020,” said Rahul Munjal, chairman, Hero Future Energies. The company has a presence in 12 states, with capacity of 360 Mw — solar, wind and rooftop installations.

Sunil Jain, chief executive officer, said the partnership would also help them tap opportunities in markets abroad, as well as in new technologies.

“With this partnership, IFC is helping accelerate the transition of the RE generation business to the mainstream power sector. Through the Global Infrastructure Fund, we are also bringing in the support of international institutional investors,” said Mengistu Alemayehu, regional director for IFC. As reported earlier, Hero Future Energies had raised ~300 crore through debt (climate bonds) in February 2016. Since its incorporation in 2012, it has identified projects for 2 Gw and plans total installed capacity of 1,000 Mw in 12 months, said a report in August. Operational and under-construction projects are in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana.

IFC portfolio companies have set up a little over 3 Gw of different forms of RE projects in the country. IFC’s advisory team is helping the government of Madhya Pradesh to set up a 750 Mw solar power project at Rewa. When completed, this would be the largest single-site solar plant in the world.