CDC-backed India renewables platform raises $330m
Ayana Renewable Power, an Indian renewable energy platform managed by CDC Group, has raised $330 million from its parent, along with new investors the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of India (NIIF) and EverSource Capital.
Ayana was launched last year to develop utility-scale solar and wind generation projects, as well as rooftop solar solutions, in underserved states in India, as well as neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. The platform currently has 500 megawatts of solar capacity under construction and plans to have at least two gigawatts of operational renewable energy capacity by 2022.
Ayana is run by Shivanand Nimbargito, former CEO of Green Infra, a wind and solar power producer that was also previously backed by CDC. The UK development finance institution's (DFI) stake in Green Infra was acquired in 2015 by Singapore’s Sembcorp Utilities, which went on to purchase the rest of the company in 2017.
“We are delighted we achieved our early objective to attract fresh capital and we are proud to partner with NIIF and EverSource,” said Srini Nagarajan, CDC’s head of Asia, in a statement. “Their domestic expertise will further strengthen Ayana and support its mission in developing affordable and accessible renewable energy across India.”
India’s government launched NIIF in 2015 aiming to raise about INR400 billion ($5.6 billion) for investments in transportation, energy, and urban infrastructure, spread across a mother fund and three subsidiary vehicles. The fund’s investments include infrastructure-focused non-banking finance company IDFC and logistics player Continental Warehousing Corporation, which it acquired last year alongside Dubai-based port operator DP World.
NIIF is also an anchor LP, along with the UK government, in the Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF), a PE vehicle set up to invest in sustainable infrastructure projects in India with a target of GBP500 million ($710 million). Eversource, a joint venture between India’s Everstone Capital and renewable energy project developer Lightsource BP, is the manager of GGEF.
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