Saudi PIF looks for a stake in India’s Tata Power’s green biz

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in looking to buy a stake in Tata Power Co. Ltd’s green energy, power transmission and distribution businesses, Mint said according to two people aware of the development.

The due diligence by the sovereign wealth fund has been completed, the report said, adding that the proposed investment by PIF is in addition to BlackRock and the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co.’s plan to invest in a new energy entity bein floated by Tata Power.

The business tentatively called “consumer renewables” will house all Tata Power assets except coal-fuelled power projects and carbon projects.

PIF, which acts as the Kingdom’s main investment arm, has around $600 billion of assets under management.

With 13.06 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, Tata Power is among India’s largest integrated power companies operating in renewable and conventional energy, electricity transmission and distribution, coal and freight, logistics and trading. It also supplies electricity to 12 million consumers through its distribution companies in North Delhi and Odisha.

Mint had earlier reported that PIF is looking to invest in India’s infrastructure sector. Some of the active sovereign wealth funds in India’s energy space from West Asia include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which has backed Greenko and ReNew Energy Global Plc.; Mubadala Investment Co.-owned Masdar, also known as the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co., which acquired around 20% in Hero Future Energies Pvt. Ltd in November 2019.

Firms from the oil-rich West Asian nations have been looking to invest in India’s green energy space to diversify their holdings.

On Friday, Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Co. PJSC agreed to invest $2 billion in Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Transmission Ltd and Adani Enterprises Ltd.