KKR’s India platform will acquire operating renewables assets

U.S. investor KKR has launched its Virescent Infrastructure operation to own and operate renewable energy assets in India.

Headquartered in Mumbai, Virescent aims to expand its portfolio of operational clean energy projects chiefly through KKR’s infrastructure fund and will target facilities with stable cash flows from long-term public-sector contracts.

Virescent reportedly owns 317 MWp of solar assets—169 MWp in Maharashtra and 148 MWp in Tamil Nadu—which were acquired from fellow Mumbai-based investor Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital for INR15.54 billion ($209 million).

Expansion

KKR, which said the Asia-Pacific region and India in particular are key markets for it, stated it has also entered definitive agreements to acquire solar farms in three different states which will add to the Virescent portfolio.

Hardik Shah, a managing director on KKR’s infrastructure team, said: “The launch of Virescent is a meaningful milestone for KKR’s Asia-Pacific infrastructure strategy amid India’s ambitions to install 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030. We look forward to playing a part in meeting these goals and supporting the government’s Green Energy Corridor initiative through our investment in Virescent.”

The Green Energy Corridor is a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy initiative to integrate clean energy into Indian grids. The program includes the Intra State Transmission System project which aims to incorporate 20 GW of renewables generation capacity into the state grids of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Chief exec

The new KKR entity is led by CEO Sanjay Grewal, who brings more than 30 years of experience in the global infrastructure sector. He will be responsible for identifying, planning, and executing investment opportunities for Virescent.

Grewal said: “Positive government initiatives have created a number of long-term investment opportunities in India’s rapidly transforming renewable energy sector. We are thrilled that Virescent will seek to invest in many of these great opportunities in addition to achieving stable returns by acquiring high-quality, low-risk, and income yielding assets with stable and long-term cashflows.”