Mumbai: Billionaire businessman Gautam Adani has agreed to buy three solar power assets from Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group for an enterprise value of Rs 1,300 crore. The deal will strengthen Adani’s renewable energy portfolio at a time when the world is moving away from coal-fired power plants. The transaction will also help Chandra trim his debt.
This is the latest deal by Chandra after he sold an 11% stake in Zee Entertainment Enterprises to Invesco Oppenheimer for Rs 4,224 crore (see graphic). The sale proceeds from Invesco has reduced Chandra’s total debt to Rs 6,776 crore from Rs 11,000 crore. The Adani transaction will now bring Chandra’s debt further down.Essel’s three operating solar power units, based in Punjab, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, have a cumulative capacity of 205MW. All the three units have long-term power purchase agreements with various state electricity distribution companies.After the sale of the three solar plants to Adani, Essel will be left with 480MW of solar assets in its portfolio.
