SBG Cleantech, a renewable energy joint venture (JV) between Japanese behemoth SoftBank Group and India’s Bharti Enterprises, is looking to raise up to $750 million, per a report by The Economic Times.
Softbank owns a majority of 80 per cent stake in the JV company, while the remaining is held by the Indian multinational. The proposed funding will be used by SBG Cleantech to expedite its ongoing and pipeline projects in India and the US. In the pipeline, the company currently has projects worth 7.7-gigawatt in India, which it plans to take up to 20-gigawatt over the next five years. SBG Cleantech, established in 2015, will soon start reaching out to a gamut of investors – both financial and strategic – to raise the amount.
These include private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, global utilities and pension funds. SB Energy, the renewable energy arm of SoftBank, is said to have roped in Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays to facilitate the fundraising process, added the report. SBG Cleantech has assets in diverse markets such as the US, Latin America and Middle East, besides holding operating assets in India.
Investors are increasingly evincing interest in India’s renewable energy sector in the backdrop of next-generation reforms in the power sector. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently paved the way for privatisation of electricity distribution companies (discoms) in all eight union territories.
