Goenka Group’s Purvah Green Power to acquire Welspun New Energy for ₹2,500 cr

Mumbai: Purvah Green Power, the renewable energy arm of RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, is set to acquire Welspun New Energy (WNEL) at an enterprise valuation of around ₹2,500 crore, edging out Macquarie in the final round of negotiations, people aware of the development said.

The deal, if it materialises, would give Purvah access to WNEL's renewable energy development pipeline as it accelerates plans to build a 10 GW green power portfolio through acquisitions and greenfield projects.

WNEL currently has only around 45 MW of operating renewable capacity, but has an ambitious growth pipeline, including a 245 MW wind-solar hybrid project in Gujarat - its largest project under construction - besides a 700 MW wind-solar-plus-storage pipeline. The company is targeting 5 GW of renewable capacity and 2 million tonnes per annum of green derivatives, including green ammonia and methanol, by 2030.

Greenfield Pipeline

RPSG and Macquarie were locked in final negotiations to acquire WNEL, ET reported last month.

Last month, Purvah acquired 1.4 GW operational solar assets from ReNew Power at an enterprise valuation of Rs 4,859 crore (about $509 million).

It acquired six special purpose vehicles (SPVs) holding the assets across Rajasthan and Karnataka.

Following the acquisition, Purvah's total contracted capacity went up to 4.8 GW, including 1.8 GW of operational capacity and 3 GW at various stages of construction. It also has 2.2 GWh of battery storage capacity tied up and under implementation.

Purvah plans to invest about Rs 65,000 crore to build a 10 GW renewable energy portfolio by 2032, RPSG Sanjiv Goenka had said after announcing the ReNew deal.

Purvah's existing greenfield pipeline comprises projects tied up with the group's distribution companies as well as external clients. The company has three PPAs with group distribution companies and five external PPAs - four with SECI, and one with the Indian Railways.

For Welspun, the proposed deal would mark its second major renewable energy asset sale in a decade. In 2016, the company sold its 1.14 GW renewable energy portfolio to Tata Power Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Tata Power, for about Rs 10,000 crore, in one of India's largest renewable energy transactions at the time.

Emails sent to Welspun New Energy and RPSG did not elicit any responses until press time Thursday.

Recently, a PPA was made between Welspun Renewable Energy and Tata Motors to co-develop an 86 MW wind-solar hybrid renewable energy project. The initiative will supply clean power to four Tata Motors manufacturing plants located in Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.