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India-headquartered solar projects developer CleanMax Solar has received an equity investment of $15 million International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.
The company, which set up its Middle East operations in Dubai six months ago, said that the transaction is IFC’s first equity investment globally in grid-connected distributed generation.
Founder and managing director Kuldeep Jain said the transaction was made in conjunction with a $100 million investment made by global private equity fund Warburg Pincus in the company earlier this year.
“The final equity stake would be linked to performance; but in total, after investing roughly $100 million, the combination of Warburg Pincus and IFC will have substantial minority [stake] in the company,” Jain said in a telephone interview with Thomson Reuters Projects on Wednesday, without elaborating further on the details of the transaction.
He said the company has seen substantial growth in India, especially in its core market of large, corporate clients.
“Last financial year, from March 2016 to April 2017, we built around 95 megawatts (MW) of capacity. In this financial year, from April 2017 to March 2018, we are likely to get to a number which is slightly in excess of 300 MW,” Jain said.
The largest onsite (rooftop and ground) solar power plant developed by the company was around 6-7 MW while the largest offsite (grid connected) project was 145 MW, he added.
CleanMax Solar is India’s largest onsite solar power producer with a market share of around 25 percent , according to a Bridge to India May 2017 report.
Jain said that more than 25 percent of the company’s business is based on the build-own-operate (BOO) model, where it owns the assets on its balance sheet.
“Our mission is to be sustainability partners to private, corporate companies,” he said.
“By building assets and leasing it to them, we help them lower their energy costs and enable them to be greener as far as their power requirements are concerned.”
The same model will be replicated in the Middle East as well, he said.
“The purpose of coming to the Middle East was that a lot of our corporate multinational clients wanted to replicate what we had done for them in India in other parts of the world, so starting out with Dubai and the Middle East made a lot of sense.”
The company is expecting to achieve substantial growth in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.
“We see ourselves doing at least 15-20 sites in the UAE alone next year. In three years from today, we envision the Middle East would be around one-fourth of our overall business.”
Jain said the company has adequate capital to support its international growth plans but is open to partnerships.
“We don’t need any tie-ups for capital. We have more than adequate capital for the growth we are seeking. However, as a company, we are very open to partnerships. For example, we have a partnership with Hitachi to bring their technology to Japanese clients all over the world.”
Hyun-Chan Cho, regional industry head of infrastructure & natural resources for IFC, said in a press statement issued on Wednesday that the company’s market leadership, “impressive client list and a strong management team” contributed to its decision to invest in the company.
Founded in 2011, CleanMax has successfully installed more than 200 projects for over 50 leading corporate and institutional clients in sectors such as automotive, education, pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, and Information Technology in India, according to a company statement.
For more data, analytics, tools and news on projects in the Middle East visit the Thomson Reuters Projects portal.
(Writing by Anoop Menon, Editing by Michael Fahy)
(anoop.menon@thomsonreuters.com)
© ZAWYA 2017
The company, which set up its Middle East operations in Dubai six months ago, said that the transaction is IFC’s first equity investment globally in grid-connected distributed generation.
Founder and managing director Kuldeep Jain said the transaction was made in conjunction with a $100 million investment made by global private equity fund Warburg Pincus in the company earlier this year.
“The final equity stake would be linked to performance; but in total, after investing roughly $100 million, the combination of Warburg Pincus and IFC will have substantial minority [stake] in the company,” Jain said in a telephone interview with Thomson Reuters Projects on Wednesday, without elaborating further on the details of the transaction.
He said the company has seen substantial growth in India, especially in its core market of large, corporate clients.
“Last financial year, from March 2016 to April 2017, we built around 95 megawatts (MW) of capacity. In this financial year, from April 2017 to March 2018, we are likely to get to a number which is slightly in excess of 300 MW,” Jain said.
The largest onsite (rooftop and ground) solar power plant developed by the company was around 6-7 MW while the largest offsite (grid connected) project was 145 MW, he added.
CleanMax Solar is India’s largest onsite solar power producer with a market share of around 25 percent , according to a Bridge to India May 2017 report.
Jain said that more than 25 percent of the company’s business is based on the build-own-operate (BOO) model, where it owns the assets on its balance sheet.
“Our mission is to be sustainability partners to private, corporate companies,” he said.
“By building assets and leasing it to them, we help them lower their energy costs and enable them to be greener as far as their power requirements are concerned.”
The same model will be replicated in the Middle East as well, he said.
“The purpose of coming to the Middle East was that a lot of our corporate multinational clients wanted to replicate what we had done for them in India in other parts of the world, so starting out with Dubai and the Middle East made a lot of sense.”
The company is expecting to achieve substantial growth in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.
“We see ourselves doing at least 15-20 sites in the UAE alone next year. In three years from today, we envision the Middle East would be around one-fourth of our overall business.”
Jain said the company has adequate capital to support its international growth plans but is open to partnerships.
“We don’t need any tie-ups for capital. We have more than adequate capital for the growth we are seeking. However, as a company, we are very open to partnerships. For example, we have a partnership with Hitachi to bring their technology to Japanese clients all over the world.”
Hyun-Chan Cho, regional industry head of infrastructure & natural resources for IFC, said in a press statement issued on Wednesday that the company’s market leadership, “impressive client list and a strong management team” contributed to its decision to invest in the company.
Founded in 2011, CleanMax has successfully installed more than 200 projects for over 50 leading corporate and institutional clients in sectors such as automotive, education, pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, and Information Technology in India, according to a company statement.
For more data, analytics, tools and news on projects in the Middle East visit the Thomson Reuters Projects portal.
(Writing by Anoop Menon, Editing by Michael Fahy)
(anoop.menon@thomsonreuters.com)
© ZAWYA 2017
