Singapore's Keppel to acquire Shell-backed Cleantech Solar

Singapore based Keppel Corporation will acquire Royal Dutch Shell-backed solar power producer Cleantech Solar Energy. Keppel will invest $150 million to acquire 51% stake in the holding company.

A consortium of Keppel Corporation Limited, Keppel Asia Infrastructure Fund LP (KAIF) and a co-investor of KAIF, through Cloud Alpha Pte Ltd 1 , is acquiring a 51% equity interest in Cleantech Renewable Assets from Cleantech Energy Corporation (the Founders’ Group), according to a Keppel press statement.

The remaining 49% of the equity interest in Cleantech is held by its existing shareholder, Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd. Keppel will invest $150 million to acquire 51% stake in the holding company, held by promoter Raju Shukla, said sources aware of the development.


Singapore based Keppel Corp. and leading Indian solar energy players are in separate discussions to acquire a majority stake in Cleantech Solar Energy, ET first reported last month.

A pan-Asia supplier of renewable energy, Cleantech Solar has a 600-megawatt (MW) portfolio under various stages of development across India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd had acquired a 49% stake in Cleantech Solar in 2019.

“It is indeed a matter of great pride that we now have the backing from Keppel Corporation and Shell – two world leading corporations with long
term commitment to renewable energy, sustainability, and Net Zero emissions. Cleantech is targeting to achieve a cumulative generation capacity of 3 GW within five years,” said Raju Shukla, Founder and CEO of Cleantech Solar.

“Through acquiring a majority stake in an established platform together with KAIF and a like-minded investor, we would be able to accelerate Keppel’s growth in the renewables space, as we work towards achieving and surpassing our target of 7GW of renewable energy assets by 2030,” said Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel.

Standard Chartered acted as exclusive Financial Advisor to Cleantech for this transaction.

Keppel Renewable Energy Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation, undertakes the development and operation of renewable energy infrastructure. In line with Keppel Corporation’s longer-term target of growing its portfolio of renewable energy to 7GW by 2030, KRE plans to have 3GW of installed capacity by the end of 2025, according to a company website.

Founded in 2015, Singapore headquartered Cleantech Solar is focused on installing high quality rooftop photovoltaic projects. Major clients include Apollo Tyres, Bosch Automotive, Cargill, Tata Steel, Akzo NObel, Coca-Cola, Siam Winery and Unilever.

In India, Cleantech Solar competes with Cleanmax Enviro Energy and Petronas-owned Amplus Solar.

Recently, Cleantech had secured Rs200 crore from infrastructure debt fund NIIF Infrastructure Finance Limited (NIIF IFL) for the company’s portfolio of Open Access projects in India. Last year, the company had a green loan of $75 million from ING bank and also has loan facilities from SBI-World Bank and Tata Cleantech Capital.

Climate Fund Managers (CFM), the climate-dedicated investment manager, had invested $50 million in 2018 in Cleantech Solar.

Earlier, PE fund Warburg Pincus had sold its majority stake in Cleanmax to US based Augment Infrastructure, where Keppel Corp. was one among the suitors.

At present, India’s installed renewable energy capacity is about 95 GW, including 40.5 GW of solar power. The country’s renewable energy capacity addition is expected to be 10.5-11 GW in financial year 2021-22, led by a strong project pipeline of about 38 GW, according to ratings firm ICRA.

The sector is expected to witness investments of Rs 3.5 lakh crore over the next four years, increasing its share to 34% of the overall installed power generation capacity by March 2025 from 25% in March 2021, led by the solar power segment, the report added.

In 2015, the government had declared an ambitious target of 175 GW from renewables by 2022.