Renewable Energy Trust: IndiGrid to acquire Virescent Renewable Energy Trust for up to Rs 4,000 cr

New Delhi, Infrastructure investment trust India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) on Friday said it has signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of 100 per cent units in Virescent Renewable Energy Trust at an enterprise value of up to Rs 4,000 crore for cash consideration. “The Enterprise Value is not exceeding Rs 40 billion (for cash consideration), subject to all other closing adjustments as specified in the definitive documents entered into,” a BSE filing said.

The IndiGrid executed a unit purchase agreement on May 12, 2023, for the acquisition of 100 per cent of the units of Virescent Renewable Energy Trust (VRET), in one or more tranches, from the unitholders of VRET.

The completion of the acquisition would depend upon receipt of Unitholders’ consent, regulatory and other relevant approvals as well as completion of contractual obligations, it stated.

The seller of the units of VRET being Terra Asia Holdings II Pte. Ltd. (Terra), is controlled and/or managed and/or advised, solely by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., or by its affiliates (together, the KKR Group), along with one of the IndiGrid sponsors, and is a related party of IndiGrid.

The Virescent was established in 2020 to acquire renewable energy assets in India against the backdrop of the country’s rapidly growing renewable energy demands.

Since its launch, Virescent has scaled to a portfolio of 16 operating solar projects totaling 538 MWp of capacity with an AUM (asset under management) of Rs 4,121 crore as of March 31, 2023.

In September 2021, Virescent became India’s first privately listed renewables-focused InvIT. Recently, it announced its 6th acquisition which will bring its total capacity to 563 MWp upon completion. Set up in 2016, IndiGrid is India’s first and largest InvIT in the power transmission sector. It owns, operates, and manages transmission networks and renewable energy assets that deliver reliable power.

Today, it owns 17 power projects with transmission lines of more than 8,468 ckms, 13 substations with 17,550 MVA transformation capacity, and 100 MWAC of solar generation capacity.

Virescent is the India’s only renewables-focused entity with a dual “AAA” credit rating in India. The completion of IndiGrid’s investment is subject to customary regulatory and unitholder approvals.