Petronas eyeing India's ACME Solar assets worth Rs 450-500 crore: Report

Malaysia’s Petronas is reportedly looking to acquire 100 MW solar power assets located in Karnataka from ACME Solar.

Petronas will likely conduct the deal worth Rs 450-500 crore through its Indian arm Amplus Energy Solutions, The Economic Times reported. The Malaysian state-run Oil and Gas Company bought Amplus from I Squared Capital in 2019.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
Acme Solar is one of the largest solar power developers in India with a portfolio of 5.5 GW and an operational capacity of 2.9 GW and 2.6 GW of projects under various stages of development.

ACME had, in February, sold 600 MW of assets to private equity firm Actis for Rs 3,000 crore.

ACME, Petronas and Amplus did not respond to queries, as per the report.

Besides this deal, Petronas was previously in talks with Hero Future Energies for a 20 percent stake in Hero Group’s renewable energy division. Hero eventually finalised the deal with Abu Dhabi-based Masdar Clean energy in 2019.

ACME has a 5.5 GW solar portfolio in India – 2.9 GW of which is already operational. Petronas’ Amplus meanwhile owns and manages a 650 MW portfolio in India (operational and under construction).

India’s solar sector has been pretty active. Azure Power Global has put 400 MW projects in Assam and Rajasthan 400 MW on sale – where Edelweiss Infrastructure, UK-based private equity fund Actis, KKR and Ayana Renewable Power have evinced early interest.

India has achieved 86 GW of its 450 GW renewable energy by 2030 target. Moody's Investors Service has, however, noted that the country’s power demand is likely to reduce significantly in FY21.