Aditya Birla Group has entered into talks with Nebras Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qatar Electricity & Water, to offload a minority stake in its renewable energy business.
The cement-to-retail conglomerate, which set up its renewable power unit in 2011, is looking for a strategic investor to scale up its renewable energy business.
The companies are in exclusive talks and if successful, a deal would be signed “shortly”, they said, without giving any timeframe. At present, Nebras Power does not have any investments in the India’s renewable energy sector.
Aditya Birla Renewables was planning to set up 4.5 GW installed capacity by FY26 and needed to raise growth capital. Standard Chartered is advising Aditya Birla Renewables on the deal, another source said.
Earlier Canadian investment firm Alberta Investment Management Corporation (Aimco) and certain other investors had expressed interest to pick up a significant minority stake in the company. However, these deals did of fructify.
Aditya Birla Renewables, a subsidiary of Grasim Industries, provides renewable energy solutions for solar, wind, solar-wind hybrid and battery storage, and operates 50 renewable projects across nine states. The company has a total installed capacity of 744 MW as of FY23. The firm was planning to increase this to 2 GW by March 2024.
Qatar-headquartered Nebras Power has 22 power assets across solar, gas, multifuel, coal, wind and hydro across eight countries with a gross capacity of 6.8 GW. The company invests in markets such as the Middle East, South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Europe and Central Asia and Latin America, among others.