NIIF-owned Ayana Renewable Power gets high five from bidders

New Delhi | Mumbai: JSW Neo Energy and Sekura Energy are among five bidders that have made non-binding offers to acquire a controlling stake in Ayana Renewable Power, majority owned by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), according to people aware of the matter. The offers were submitted on April 19.

The others in the fray include Masdar, Sembcorp and Macquarie, according to the people cited.

The bids were submitted after allowing time to the suitors to conduct a limited due diligence that included access to some data and confidential financial information. As the next step, NIIF will communicate a shortlist of suitors over the next few weeks after which two or at best three will be allowed to conduct detailed due diligence, according to the sources.


NIIF holds a 51% stake in Ayana Renewable Power while British International Investment (formerly CDC Group) owns 32%. The Green Growth Equity fund of Eversource Capital owns 17%.

NIIF didn't respond to queries.

Flexibility in Deal Structuring Likely
JSW Neo Energy, Sekura Energy, Sembcorp, Macquarie and Masdar declined to comment.

ET had first reported August 18 that Ayana Renewable Power's shareholders could look at reducing their stakes by inducting new investors.

"Some of the bidders have made offers for 51% of the company while others have offered to buy out 100% of the shareholding. There is some flexibility in terms of how the deal gets structured finally," said one of the persons cited.

Ayana's three co-investors led by NIIF have collectively pumped in $721 million in equity funding. It's estimated that the company's debt could be in the region of $1.2 billion, taking its enterprise value close to $2 billion.

British International Investment, in its previous avatar as CDC, had floated Ayana Renewable in 2018 to further the UK's investments in green energy in India. NIIF became a controlling shareholder in December 2020.

The company has its registered and corporate office in Bengaluru.

Ayana has a total pipeline of more than 4 GW of solar, wind and hybrid power projects across several states and has an operational capacity of 1.3 GW of renewable energy in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

Ayana has 2.8 GW of projects under development - 2 GW of solar, wind and hybrid assets with firm power purchase agreements (PPAs). For the remaining 800 MW of generation projects that it won through the bidding route, PPAs are yet to be signed. Of this, the group expects to commission a 300 MW wind power asset in the ongoing financial year and the balance through FY25 and FY26, subject to the timely signing of PPAs, according to an ICRA report.