Indian solar attracts USD 10bn in 2017 funding - Mercom

Corporate and project funding deals in the Indian solar sector totalled USD 10 billion (EUR 8.13bn) last year, rising from USD 4 billion a year before.

The total was calculated by consultancy Mercom Capital Group and includes project financing, venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE), debt and public market financing. No corporate merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions were recorded in the past year, according to Mercom’s 2017 Q4 and Annual India Solar Market Update.

Project financing secured by solar firms in India increased to USD 6.4 billion from USD 3.5 billion with the addition of 9.6 GW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity last year, which compares to 4 GW in 2016.

Overall corporate funding improved to USD 3.6 billion, mainly due to large PE deals, and accounted for 28% of the global total. Over USD 800 million was raised in VC and PE transactions.

Renewables developer and operator ReNew Power Ventures Pvt Ltd was a major name in PE financing with two deals of USD 200 million each. Some of the other top deals worth over USD 100 million were made by Greenko Energy, Hero Future Energies and CleanMax Solar.

Announced debt financing in 2017 also improved in annual terms, with most of the activity in the Indian solar sector coming in the form of new bonds. Greenko Energy, for example, sold USD 1.5 billion in senior notes and bonds.

The list of the biggest deals in each category is available at https://mercomindia.com/indian-solar-financing-2017/.

For 2018, Mercom expects investment in the Indian solar sector to decline along with installations due to uncertainties created by the possible imposition of safeguard and anti-dumping duties for solar imports, which "will have a direct negative impact on investments unless the government acts fast to resolve these issues in a way that creates confidence among the investment community,” said CEO Raj Prabhu.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.813)

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