Private equity firm Actis Llp is close to buyinga majority stake in 500 megawatts of solar projects in India owned by Finland’s state-controlled power utility Fortum Oyj, two people aware of the development said.
Fortum, the third-largest Nordic utility, and Actis are negotiating the share purchase agreement for the deal having an equity value upwards of €100 million.
Kotak Investment Banking is running the process that saw Actis, Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund’s Sekura Energy Ltd submitting separate bids.
In addition to selling 80% stake in existing projects, the deal with an enterprise value of around €300 million also involves bringing these 500MW solar projects under a new platform, in which Actis will contribute equity to develop projects in India and overseas totalling around 2.5 gigawatts.
