PE firm EverSource Capital to invest $1b in India's renewable energy sector

The UK government could be one of the anchor investors in its Green Growth Equity Fund.

Private equity firm Everstone Capital and global solar project developer Lightsource BP’s joint venture (JV) EverSource Capital is looking to invest over $1b in renewable energy investments through its Green Growth Equity Fund, a report by Indian financial news agency Livemint revealed.

The National Investments and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India and the UK government are said to be anchor investors in the Green Growth Equity Fund.

“We have done the anchor close. UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and NIIF and, we as general partner (GP), have committed significant capital. So, we are at $340-350m, and close to 50% of our target. We have now started the process to reach out to investors both in India and outside of India. The target is to raise around $700m," Dhanpal Jhaveri, managing partner of Everstone Capital and CEO for EverSource Capital, said.

EverSource primarily focuses on green investments largely around decarbonization of energy and its uses, including transportation, and are reportedly looking only at heavy assets such as wind and solar power firms.

In February 2019, EverSource joined NIIF and UK’s government-owned development finance institution CDC to invest $330m into Ayana Renewables, the report highlighted. The investment marked EverSource’s maiden investment into the renewable energy platform. According to Jhaveri, the capital being invested in Ayana will largely go towards funding its growth.

“We already have a 500MW pipeline. We think that with this capital we can go in excess of 4-5GW,” he said, adding that the combination of EverSource, NIIF and CDC will ensure access to low cost capital for Ayana. Ayana will look at both greenfield development and acquisitions to scale up the platform, the report noted.