EverSource, NIIF, CDC to invest USD 330 mn in Ayana Renewable

EverSource Capital, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of India and CDC Group on Thursday announced a partnership to invest USD 330 million in Ayana Renewable Power (Ayana).

Ayana is a renewable energy platform founded by CDC.

This will be a cumulative investment of all three partners, a statement said.

"This investment demonstrates our commitment to invest a further USD 1.7 billion in India and neighbouring countries over next three years. Within infrastructure, we see further opportunities to provide investment to businesses operating within power generation, power transmission and distribution, transport, the gas midstream and the water sector," CDC's Head of Asia, Srini Nagarajan said.

Ayana was launched to develop utility scale solar and wind generation projects in India. It is constructing 500MW of solar generation capacity with a strong future pipeline of renewable energy opportunities, said the statement.

"The Indian renewable energy sector has seen strong traction underpinned by healthy capacity additions with globally competitive tariffs. We look forward to working with our partners who bring complementary strengths and substantial capital to the platform," Sujoy Bose, MD & CEO, NIIF, said.

Standard Chartered Bank acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Ayana.

EverSource is a joint venture between Everstone Capital and Lightsource BP. EverSource Capital manages Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF), which has NIIF and the UK government as anchor LPs.