Global investment manager AMP Capital and Sterlite Power have entered into a partnership to develop energy transmission projects in the country with a total equity investment of USD 300 million. “Global investment manager AMP Capital has established a 50:50 partnership with Sterlite Power Transmission Ltd (Sterlite Power) for the development of energy transmission projects in India,” according to a joint statement by the two companies. It added that this marks the first investment in India for AMP Capital’s global infrastructure equity strategy. AMP Capital and Sterlite Power will each invest an initial amount of about USD 150 million in the development of four transmission projects, and have put in place debt financing, which represents a total capital outlay of around USD 1 billion.
These projects have a circuit length of nearly 1,800 km of transmission lines across the western, southern and northeastern regions of India. They will provide the critical infrastructure required for evacuating power from multiple renewable energy generation projects and will strengthen the power delivery infrastructure in the country. The partners may in the future contribute further capital for new inter-state transmission projects which are expected to be tendered by the Government of India. Therefore, the partnership has the potential to reach an overall investment size of USD 500 million, it added. Transmission infrastructure has underpinned the rapid growth seen in the generation capacity of India over the last decade. This growth has been led by renewable energy, where India is rapidly becoming recognised as a global leader, having surpassed its ambitious Paris Agreement targets with 38 per cent of generation capacity currently from clean energy. The Indian power market still has huge potential for expansion, with low relative per-capita power consumption in the country. Due to years of underinvestment in transmission capacity, there is a significant demand for investment, it added.
The government is also actively promoting the participation of the private sector in transmission line, it said. Sterlite Power is a leading developer of transmission projects with a robust execution record across India and Brazil. It has won a third (by tariff) of all inter-state private transmission projects awarded in India under competitive bidding since 2011, and has successfully established its unique asset flip business model across both markets. It has completed and sold nine transmission assets to date in India. Sharat Goyal, head (India) of infrastructure equity at AMP Capital, said, “AMP Capital and Sterlite Power believe that this is a unique partnership bringing together operational and investment expertise to support the hitherto under-invested construction phase of power infrastructure in India.”He added that the investment will create a pool of valuable transmission assets, with long-term contractual arrangements and a robust payment security framework, which are attractive to yield-seeking investors. Pratik Agarwal, managing director of Sterlite Power, said, “Sterlite Power will contribute towards (clean-energy revolution) by creating the required transmission infrastructure. We are happy to have like-minded partners such as AMP Capital who believe in our core purpose and in our model of sustainable development.” AMP Capital was advised by Citigroup (financial), PwC (commercial and tax) and AZB (legal). Sterlite was advised by Moelis & Company and Credit Suisse (financial), Khaitan & Co (legal), and EY (tax).
