Goldman Sachs has inked a deal to invest up to $200 million in ReNew Wind Power, a renewable-energy independent power producer (IPP) based in India. The deal represents one of the largest investments in India’s renewable-energy generation sector by a financial investor.
ReNew was founded by Sumant Sinha, who is currently chairman and chief executive officer of the company. Sinha, who is the son of a former finance minister of India, was previously chief operating officer of Indian wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy between August 2008 and May 2010. Sinha has also worked as CEO of Aditya Birla Retail and chief financial officer for the Aditya Birla Group, an Indian conglomerate. He began his career in banking with Citi and ING Barings in New York and London.
ReNew has several wind projects under development, including a 25 megawatt wind farm in Gujarat and a 60MW wind farm in Maharashtra. It plans to expand its wind power portfolio by between 200MW and 300MW annually and aims to reach a capacity of 1 gigawatt by 2015. The company has inked business frameworks with renewable energy majors such as Kenersys, Regen Powertech and Suzlon to establish and operate wind farms throughout India.
ReNew was advised on the investment by Sinha’s in-house boutique investment banking firm, SaVant Advisers. Sinha set up SaVant after he resigned from his job at Suzlon, although he is not involved with SaVant full-time.
“This investment underscores Goldman Sachs’s continued commitment to India and support for the country’s clean energy needs,” said Ankur Sahu, co-head of the principal investment area (PIA) for Goldman Sachs in Asia, in a comment on the deal. “We look forward to teaming with the management, both financially and operationally, to help the company become a leader in India’s renewable energy sector.”
Sahu was named to his current position in February as part of a restructuring that saw PIA start to cover Asia, including Japan, out of Hong Kong and Mumbai. He moved to Mumbai from Tokyo to lead the expansion of the India franchise, while also retaining responsibility for corporate investing in Japan. Since it started principal investing in India in 2006, Goldman Sachs has put around $2 billion to work in the country.
Globally, Goldman Sachs has invested over $1.5 billion in alternative/clean energy-related companies, including Horizon Wind Energy, a Houston-based wind power company that develops, constructs, owns and operates wind farms throughout North America; and Nordex, a developer and manufacturer of multi-megawatt wind turbines based in Germany.
