New Delhi : Amplus founder Sanjeev Aggarwal and I Squared Capital have come together again to set up a climate solutions platform—Hexa Climate Solutions—which will focus on renewable energy, water and carbon offsets; wherein the New York-based private equity fund will invest around $500 million, said two people aware of the development.
New York-based I Squared Capital is no stranger to India’s green economy and invested $150 million in Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd in April 2015.
Hexa Climate Solutions will be its second innings together after Amplus Energy Solutions, one of India’s largest rooftop solar power producers was sold to Malaysia’s state-run oil and gas company, Petroliam Nasional Bhd or Petronas in April 2019 for ₹2,700 crore.
It also marked Petronas’ foray in the global clean energy space. While I Squared Capital held an over 90% stake in Amplus, the balance was held by the management led by Amplus founder and chief executive Aggarwal.
Hexa Climate Solutions will cater to the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector and offer services such as round-the-clock renewable generation, storage, and investments in carbon offset projects.
I Squared Capital was also earlier looking to buy Continuum Green Energy (India) Pvt. Ltd for an enterprise value of around $1.5 billion. It had emerged as the front-runner to acquire TPG Capital’s 52% stake in Hyderabad-based Fourth Partner Energy at an estimated equity value of around $350 million.
“It is a great opportunity to work in climate solutions space at this time and I am really happy to be backed by I Squared Capital again,” Hexa Climate Solutions chairman Aggarwal said in response to Mint’s queries.
Queries emailed to an I Squared Capital spokesperson on Thursday evening did not elicit a response till press time.
Attracted by India’s green energy transition trajectory, there are several deals in play as reported by Mint, including Shell Plc looking to sell a stake in the operational assets of Sprng Energy, a company it acquired in 2022 from Actis Llp at an enterprise value of $1.55 billion.
Also, Gentari Sdn Bhd, Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund’s Sekura Energy Ltd and Actis are in the fray to acquire 350 megawatt (MW) of solar projects from European alternative asset manager EQT and Temasek-promoted O2 Power.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd, Gentari, Edelweiss and Actis are in the race to buy 185MW solar projects from Finnish state-run power utility Fortum Oyj. India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd and Actis are among the four contenders vying for Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group platform, Vibrant Energy.
India Invest, the national investment promotion and facilitation agency, in an outlook in July had described India as an “ideal location” for renewable energy investments and said more than $78 billion have been invested in the Indian renewable energy sector since 2014, renewable energy projects worth $197 billion of investments are underway in India.
India is running a massive green energy programme, with the country’s plan to meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewable assets by 2030 and increase non-fossil fuel power generation capacity to 500GW by the end of this decade. Currently, India has an installed renewable capacity of 172 GW and 128 GW is under implementation or has been bid out.
