RIL to acquire up to 40% in Sterling & Wilson Solar

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Reliance Industries (RIL) said its subsidiary will acquire 40% stake in Sterling & Wilson Solar (SWSL) through a combination of primary investment, secondary purchase and open offer.

Reliance New Energy Solar (RNESL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, executed definitive agreements with Shapoorji Pallonji and Company (SPCPL), Khurshed Daruvala and SWSL to acquire 40% stake post-money in SWSL through a series of transactions.

SWSL will make a preferential allotment of 2.93 crore equity shares (equivalent to 15.46% post preferential share capital) at Rs 375 per share to RNESL.

Further, RNESL will acquire 1.84 crore equity shares from SPCPL (equivalent to 9.70% post preferential share capital) at Rs 375 per share.

RNESL will also make an open offer to acquire 4.91 crore equity shares of SWSL at Rs 375 each, representing 25.9%.

RNESL will hold 40% of the equity capital of SWSL, consequent to acquisition in the open offer, follow-on acquisition of shares from SPCPL and Khurshed Daruvala, and sell down, if any required.

Khurshed Daruvala will continue to be chairman of the board and lead the next phase of growth for SWSL.

SWSL, incorporated in India on 9 March 2017, is a global pure-play, end-to-end solar engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) solutions provider. The turnover (consolidated) of SWSL for FY 2021, FY 2020 and FY 2019 was Rs 5080.80 crore, Rs 5,575.29 crore and Rs 8,240.41 crore, respectively.

Following the news, shares of SWSL surged 12.93% to Rs 491 on Monday. The stock hit a high of Rs 497.75 and a low of Rs 445.80 so far.

With 11-plus GW of solar turnkey projects executed globally and more than 5 decades of engineering experience, SWSL is an international EPC and O&M service provider in the renewables sector. The company has a team of 3,000 and presence across 24 countries, and it provides a comprehensive range of solar energy turnkey solutions including design, procurement, construction, project management and operations and management.

RIL said it is committed to making India a global leader in green energy based on the latest and most cost-competitive technologies and development capabilities.

Combined with RIL's announced plans to set up four state of art giga factories in Jamnagar, Gujarat, the partnership offers fully integrated product with unrivaled engineering capabilities.

In a separate announcement, RIL said that its wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance New Energy Solar (RNESL), has announced acquisition of 100% shareholding of Norway-based REC Solar Holdings AS (REC Group) from China National Bluestar (Group) Co, for an Enterprise Value of $771 million.

REC has its operational headquarters in Singapore and regional hubs in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia-Pacific. The 25-year-old company has three manufacturing facilities - two in Norway for making solar grade polysilicon and one in Singapore making PV cells and modules.

REC's Alpha and Alpha Pure range of solar modules are recognized as among industry leaders in efficiency, reliability and long guaranteed life. REC has over 600 utility and design patents, of which 446 are granted and balance are under evaluation.

RIL said it will strongly support for REC's planned expansions including 2-3 GW Cells and Module capacity in Singapore, brand new 2 GW Cells and Module unit in France and another 1 GW Modules plant in the US.

RIL is the largest private sector corporation in India. Its activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services. The company reported a 7.3% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 12,273 crore on a 58.6% rise in net sales to Rs 1,39,949 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21.

Shares of RIL were up 1.13% at Rs 2,701 on BSE. The stock hit a high of Rs 2724.70 and a low of Rs 2698.75 so far.

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