Hygenco exploring stake sale, in talks with global investors: Co-founder Anshul Gupta

The Haryana-based company is looking to raise about $400 million by the end of this year, however, it did not disclose the percentage of stake that would be sold out to investors.

Neev II Fund-backed Hygenco is in talks with global investors for a potential stake sale, the proceeds of which would be used to fund the clean tech firm's future expansion plans, co-founder Anshul Gupta told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

The Haryana-based company is looking to raise about $400 million by the end of this year, however, it did not disclose the percentage of stake that would be sold out to investors.

"In certain cases, yes it is 49 (percent stake), but in certain cases it's not 49 (percent stake) and it is also dependent on how much capital that you know institution investors are committing. It is agreed differently with different set of investors," Gupta said.

Last month, media reported that several companies including UAE's Masdar, Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Australia's Macquarie have expressed interest in acquiring 49 percent stake of the company.

When asked about the report, Gupta said, "We have been receiving a tremendous amount of institutional investor interest globally." He did not disclose names of the investors.

The fresh inflow of funds will help the company achieve its goal of developing  10 giga watts (GW) of “commercially attractive” production and distribution assets by 2030.

Hygenco develops and deploys commercial green hydrogen and ammonia production systems. Its applications are used in large-scale process industries, terrestrial and marine transport, and personal mobility.

One of their significant achievements is "Project Steel One," which is India’s first commercial-scale green hydrogen plant.

Located at Jindal Stainless' manufacturing site in Hisar, Haryana, this plant aims to produce up to 250 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, initially targeting 75 tonnes per year. It uses an alkaline electrolyser powered by  floating solar PV to replace ammonia in the steel annealing process, significantly reducing CO2 emissions by 2,700 tonnes per year​

When asked about the demand scenario for green hydrogen in India, Gupta said, "We are not facing challenges in signing any off take agreements for green hydrogen simply because the green hydrogen is already competitive with grey hydrogen in lot of market segments."