US fund TFCC to buy 46% stake in Chennai’s Ramcharan for $4 bn
In a surprise development for India’s clean energy sector, Usbased fund TFCC International on Wednesday announced an investment of $4.14 billion to acquire a 46 per cent stake in a lesser-known Chennai-based firm Ramcharan Co Pvt Ltd.
This investment will be made over a period of five to seven years and the first round would be closed by January 2022. The acquisition is for investments in environment to energy management systems and renewable energy devices with high storage capacity made from sodium silicate, according to a company statement.
At a virtual conference to announce the deal, TFCC International chairman Chris Curtis did not respond to many questions including those related to investors in the company, financial and business details of Ramcharan and the reason for the bigbang investment.
According to the company’s official website, Ramcharan's registered office is at Dover City in Kent County (US). None of the promoters of Ramcharan attended the press conference which was abruptly ended in half an hour.
TFCC International said it is a deep impact fund, with investments from high-networth individuals, government agencies and financial institutions based in New York. "TFCC International has had investments in the Middle East, South Asia and is now working in India looking at impact investments in areas of environment solutions, renewable energy and low-cost housing," Curtis said. Currently, TFCC holds a portfolio of $20 billion dollars invested in South Asia, he said.
“We are looking forward to this business, with great anticipation. technologies such as those promoted by Ramcharan, and the immense headroom for sustainable growth, echoes with our investment objectives and we believe that Ramcharan’s products in the waste to the energy field and the new generation of energy storage devices will help the environment in a significant manner," he said.
TFCC had signed a memorandum of understanding with Ramcharan in March. The deal was closed with a shareholders agreement in October. ‘’Ramcharan currently has a business plan and orders of up to $9 billion and is looking at surge sales from the third to the sixth year of production, taking up the expected revenue to $40 billion, after the fourth year," the statement claimed.
According to Curtis, Ramcharan is among the top 100 companies in the world in terms of generational activities and is into sectors like chemicals and rubber. "They are quite large on a global scale and on a local scale," he said.
The technology used by Ramcharan allows for zero toxic residues and can be used to convert all types of unsegregated waste into energy, with zero residues to the environment, making it the first of its kind globally and also the safest, according to information shared by TFCC without explaining much.
The technology used by the company has been developed in-house by a team headed by Kaushik Palicha. Its manufacturing facilities have been planned in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, the statement added.