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Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power Company has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a stake in Shuaibah Water and Electricity Company (SWEC) from a unit of the Public Investment Fund for 843 million riyals ($225 million), making it the majority shareholder in the company.
The deal will see ACWA Power acquire the entire stake owned by the Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), a unit of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which represents 32% of SWEC’s share capital.
ACWA Power is an indirect shareholder in SWEC and following this transaction, it will increase its ownership from 30% to 62%. The company said the underlying asset entails limited operating risk and contracted cash inflows until 2030.
ACWA Power will complete the acquisition through Alwaha Projects Company, a wholly owned subsidiary.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.
The asset is the first independent water and power plant in Saudi with a 900MW of power generation capacity and 880,000m3/day of desalinated water capacity.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Brinda Darasha)
