NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, AUG 15
Sterlite Power on Friday announced the successful sale of its 14.7% stake in India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) to Institutional and HNI investors. Sterlite Power is the sponsor of IndiGrid, India’s first power sector InvIT, which saw its initial offer in 2017. Sterlite Power has now sold a 14.7 percent stake held by it in IndiGrid with the transaction valued at Rs 840 crores at a unit price of Rs 98, a release said.
Commenting on the transaction, Pratik Agarwal, Managing Director, Sterlite Power, said, “Sterlite Power is proud to have played a role in creating India’s first power sector InvIT which has grown over the years with participation from marquee investors. We will now focus on our core business as the developer of power transmission assets. We remain committed to executing asset transfers of about Rs 6,500 crores as per the framework agreement with IndiGrid.”
“We firmly believe that InvITs will remain a powerful platform to meet the large-scale financing requirements of the Infrastructure sector. The global financial markets will remain in the yield-seeking mode for a considerable period, and this will provide enough capital supply to well-managed REITs and InvITs,” he further added.
Sterlite Power is the Sponsor of IndiGrid and continues to remain a shareholder of Sterlite Investment Managers (SIML), the investment manager of IndiGrid. Having built a successful platform and completing the required lock-in period, the company will now focus on its core business as a developer of transmission assets in India and Brazil – two of the world’s largest markets for greenfield projects. It enjoys a leading position in both these geographies. Sterlite Power is increasingly focusing on transmission assets designed to evacuate renewable energy, and many of its assets under development connect the national grid to clean and green sources of power.
