Enel Green Power Buys Indian Renewable Energy Developer In €30 Million Deal

Italy’s Enel Green Power has finally completed the transaction to acquire a majority stake in Indian renewable energy project developer, BLP Energy.

According to media reports, after months of rumours Enel Green Power has acquired a majority stake in BLP Energy, for approximately €30 million. BLP Energy is the project development subsidiary of Bharat Light & Power Limited, and over the last few weeks several media outlets were quoting highly varied numbers associated with the suspected transaction.

In June, the first stories published by Indian media stated that Enel Green Power would infuse $140 million into BLP Energy. The figure, one would assume, included the cost of acquisition as well as additional investment towards development of projects in pipeline. Last month, Enel’s CEO Francesco Venturini told an Italian newspaper that his company had initiated the acquisition process, which would cost around €50 million, however, no details were given regarding the actual cost of acquisition or additional equity investment in project development.

Bharat Light & Power came into the limelight following its acquisition of 150 MW worth of wind energy capacity from India’s largest real estate company, DLF Limited, in 2013. Last year, Bharat Light & Power also announced plans to increase its operational capacity to 1 GW over a period of 5 years at an investment of $1 billion.

This acquisition adds to the long list of investments made by foreign companies in the Indian renewable energy sector over the last few months. In June, SunEdison bought out Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners from Continuum Wind Energy to become the majority stakeholder in the company in a deal estimated at $600 million.

Several other foreign entities are also planning acquisitions.

ENGIE, formerly GDF Suez, is planning to acquire a majority stake in Kiran Energy Solar Power for about Rs 1,200 crore (~ $180 million), while Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners is reportedly looking to acquire an equity stake in companies including Mytrah Energy and Leap Green Energy.