Khazanah, Hinduja Group among those eyeing SunEdison’s India assets

Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. and Hinduja Group, the industrial conglomerate run by four billionaire brothers, are said to be among those competing for SunEdison Inc.’s Indian solar assets, according to reports.

The Indian assets have also drawn interest from Mumbai-based Tata Power Co., domestic clean power developer Greenko Energies Pvt. and Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries Ltd.

According to unidentified sources, a deal could value the operations at about US$700 million including debt.

SunEdison, which is credited with bringing Indian solar tariffs to a record low last year, filed for bankruptcy protection in April, listing US$16.1 billion of liabilities. The US clean-power giant bid aggressively to win contracts in India during a US$3.1 billion buying spree that left it overloaded with borrowings.

Suitors for the company’s Indian assets haven’t made a final decision, and there’s no certainty the talks will result in a transaction, the sources said. SunEdison could pick a winner in about a month, and may prefer bidders that already have a presence in India, according to one of the sources.

Ashish Sethia, head of Asia-Pacific gas and power analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said that suitors may be attracted to the SunEdison assets because of their signed power purchase agreements. But Vinay Rustagi, managing director of solar research firm Bridge to India, said that any buyer will still face pressure to complete SunEdison’s unfinished projects by the agreed deadlines.

According to an interview with Hinduja Group co-chairman Gopichand Hinduja, they are looking at distressed assets in India’s infrastructure and power sectors. The conglomerate’s Hinduja National Power Corp. unit is setting up a 1,040-MW thermal power plant in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Tata Power, controlled by the US$103 billion Tata conglomerate, has an installed gross electricity generation capacity of 9.2 GW. The company agreed in June to buy a 1.1-GW solar and wind portfolio from Welspun Renewable Energy Pvt. in India’s biggest clean-energy deal.

Closely-held Greenko raised US$230 million in June selling stock to Singapore state investment company GIC Pte and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to help triple its renewable-energy capacity.