Petronas, Sembcorp, JSW Neo in talks to acquire Continuum: Report

Petronas, Sembcorp Industries, and JSW Neo Energy are separately considering to acquire Continuum Green Energy (India) Pvt Ltd in a potential deal that may have a market value of $1.5 billion, Mint reported on December 29.

The companies are expected to submit non-binding bids in January for the deal, which is likely to have an equity value of around $600 million, sources told Mint.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

As per the report, the sale process - managed by Citibank and Deutsche Bank - may involve a 100 percent stake sale, including the sale of US investment bank Morgan Stanley’s 83 percent stake in the clean energy platform founded by Arvind Bansal and Vikash Saraf in 2009.

The interest in Continuum comes amid India drawing up a plan to meet its commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, increasing non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and reducing the carbon intensity of its economy by 45 percent from the 2005 level, Mint wrote in the report.

Also read: Renewable energy sector to boom with likely investments of over $25 billion in 2023

Continuum has 1.3GW of operational and nearly operational projects, as well as an additional 1.17GW of near-term construction projects in the utility-scale and commercial and industrial segments.

North Haven Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure fund managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, invested $212 million in Continuum in 2012. GE Energy Financial Services recently acquired a 49 percent stake in Continuum’s 148.5 megawatts (MW) Morjar onshore wind project in Gujarat, according to the report.

The interest in Continuum also comes at a time the Centre is putting in place enabling provisions to make the use of clean energy, including green hydrogen, mandatory - Mint mentioned.