17 December, 2020
Mumbai/London
CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), and EverSource Capital managed Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) today announced additional equity funding of $70 million / £52 million, $284 million / £212 million and $36 million /£27 million respectively in Ayana Renewable Power (Ayana), a leading Indian renewable energy platform. The proposed transaction
envisages NIIF to become the majority shareholder in Ayana. The commitment is subject to final approval processes.*
Reducing global carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 is essential to limit the impact of climate change. Building this green energy capacity is vital to India’s long-term economic development, decarbonise the energy mix away from coal and support the creation of jobs.
Founded in 2018 by CDC Group, Ayana was launched to address these challenges in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The platform develops utility-scale renewable power solar and wind generation projects across India to build cost-effective capacity. To date, Ayana has received equity funding of $721 million / £541 million; sufficient to scale up its renewable energy portfolio to over 4GW over the next two years. NIIF, CDC and GGEF as shareholders bring complementary strengths to the platform that has been built with a strong focus on governance and compliance.
Ayana currently has 1.14 GW of solar generation capacity under various stages of development/operation across multiple Indian states, and a strong future pipeline of renewable energy opportunities. With a management team that has a track record of successful execution of renewable energy projects, it is well poised to play an important role in India’s ambition to build 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and 450 GW by
2030.
01 About CDC Group
CDC Group plc is the UK’s development finance institution. Wholly owned by the UK Government, it invests in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with the aim of supporting economic development to create jobs. CDC Group plc has invested in India since 1987. CDC takes a flexible approach and provides capital in all its forms, including equity, debt, mezzanine and guarantees, to meet businesses’ needs and achieve development impact.
CDC has net assets of £5.8bn.
Ayana’s strategic objectives align with UN Sustainable Development Goals 7 (affordable and clean energy), 8 (creating economic opportunities through growth) and 13 (climate action). Since establishing Ayana, CDC has worked closely with Ayana to develop in-house environmental and social (E&S) function to enable it to develop projects in line with international best practice. And, part of Ayana’s remit is to support the local communities
living and working in its development locations. CDC worked in partnership with Ayana on a pilot skills development programme that provided training for potential employment in the solar park. In total, 183 people were trained, and a third of those were recruited immediately. You can read more about the project here.
02 About NIIF
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL) is a collaborative investment platform for international and Indian investors, anchored by the Government of India. NIIFL invests across asset classes such as infrastructure, private equity and other diversified sectors in India, with the objective to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors. NIIFL thinks long-term, believes in generating returns through efficiently
operating its investments across economic cycles, and is committed to sustainable investing principles.
NIIF Limited manages over USD 4.3 billion of equity capital commitments across its three funds – Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Opportunities Fund, each with its distinct investment strategy. NIIF Master Fund primarily invests in operating assets in core infrastructure sectors such as transportation and energy. NIIF Fund of Funds invests in funds managed by best-in-class fund managers focused on some of the most dynamic sectors in India such as climate infrastructure, middle-income & affordable housing, digital consumer platforms and other allied sectors. NIIF Strategic Opportunities Fund is a Private Equity fund which aims to build scalable businesses across a range of opportunity long but capital short sectors.
For more information and recent updates on NIIF, please visit www.niifindia.in and follow the official LinkedIn channel.
03 About GGEF
GGEF was established with anchor investment from India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Government of UK. GGEF invests in scalable operating companies and platforms across renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, e-mobility, resource conservation and associated value chains. GGEF is managed by its investment manager, EverSource Capital Private Limited which is the joint venture between Everstone Capital and Lightsource BP.
04 About EverSource Capital
EverSource Capital is the fund manager of the Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF). It provides global investors an opportunity to invest in the Indian green infrastructure, alongside a global industrial leader and established regional fund manager. EverSource Capital brings together India’s leading private equity investor, Everstone Capital, and a world leading solar energy developer and manager, Lightsource bp, for a unique and complementary 50:50 partnership. GGEF’s investment portfolio includes a utility scale renewable energy platform Ayana Renewable Power; a distributed renewable energy platform focused on developing, owning and operating assets for residential, commercial and industrial customers called Radiance Renewables; an e-mobility focused platform called GreenCell mobility, which aims to become the largest pan-India e-MaaS (e-mobility as a service) company in India; and EverEnviro, which is envisioned to become India’s leading integrated waste management platform. To know more, visit www.eversourcecapital.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
*Note: This MoU is not intended to create any legally binding obligations between the Parties and shall be non-binding until the final approval process is complete.
For media inquiries, please contact:
NIIF Contact:
Anita Bhoir
Adfactors PR, Senior Account Director
Email: anita.bhoir@adfactorspr.com
Mobile: +9930390055
NIIF Contact:
Karan Anand
EverSource Capital
Email: kanand@everstonecapital.com
Mobile: +91 98333 72732
