Thailand's PTT restarts discussions to buy ReNew Power's solar assets

A Solar Microgrid

Thailand’s state-owned PTT Group has relaunched discussions to buy a 49% stake in solar assets of ReNew Power totalling 3GW, The Economic Times reported on January 6, citing people aware of the matter.

Founded by Sumant Sinha in 201, ReNew Power is the Indian arm of Nasdaq-listed ReNew Energy Global Plc. ReNew's solar and wind portfolio totals 13.4 GW, of which 7.7 GW has been commissioned, according to ET.

Previously in 2020, PTT Group was in talks with Goldman Sachs, then the single largest shareholder of ReNew Power, to buy at least half its stake in the company at a valuation of about $2. 2 billion by investing a minimum $500 million, as per the report.

The discussions concluded without any outcome.

In early 2021, ReNew Power announced a merger with Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) RMG Acquisition Corp. II at an enterprise value of about $8 billion, the report noted.

Later that year, PTT Group, Thailand’s biggest conglomerate, invested $453 million (14. 8 billion baht) for a 41. 6% stake in Noida-based Avaada Energy Pvt Ltd.

“Two years ago when they first did exhaustive diligence on the company, many of the assets were under construction. Now they are commissioned. So there is a familiarity that already exists.” an executive told ET.