Welspun Energy in talks to raise up to $200 mn: report

Welspun Energy is in talks with renewable energy funds to sell a small stake in the company and raise $150 million to $200 million for investments in wind energy farms, a business paper reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

The deal could lead to one of the founders reducing stake by up to 15% in the firm, the paper said. Welspun Energy, which is involved in wind, thermal and solar projects, has a capacity of about 270 MW of solar projects on the ground.

"We are in the market and are looking at options. But it's too premature to say anything at this moment," one person involved in the negotiations told the paper.

The company could not be immediately reached by Reuters for a comment.

Welspun has mandated Macquarie to advice on the deal, the paper said, adding that the investment banking firm was talking to potential investors such as Nereus India Alternative Energy Fund LLC, Magnetar Fund and IFC, the private arm of the World Bank.

Global renewable energy investors are increasingly looking to Southeast and South Asia, lured by investment incentives rolled out by governments in the region amid a bleak outlook for clean energy investment in Europe and the United States.

India's clean energy investments rose to $10.3 billion last year from $6.8 billion in 2010, the paper said.

Welspun Energy plans to invest $1 billion to construct two wind farms in Karnataka in the next five years, the paper said.

The energy firm recently signed agreements with the Karnataka government for projects with 100 MW and 750 MW of capacity to achieve its goal of installing 1.7 gigawatts of solar and wind parks, which are sufficient to power 9 million Indian homes.

It is also in talks with banks to raise loans for its wind energy expansion plans to be executed in phases, the paper said.