Virescent to acquire Godawari Green Energy’s 50 MW solar thermal plant

 Godawari Power and Ispat Limited (GPIL) is on the verge of selling its 50-megawatt (MW) solar based thermal power plant to new entrant Virescent Infrastructure Investment Manager in the coming days.

The senior leadership has held that the size of the total deal is about Rs 665 crore. The key reason forwarded by the company is that the solar thermal power plant is a ‘non-core asset’ for Godawari Power and Ispat. It has also come out that the company was looking to sell the asset for quite some time. The firm made the disclosure while interacting with news channels.

The buyer has signed a share purchase agreement for a 100% acquisition of the Godawari Green Energy owned by GPIL. The company has said in a filing that the acquisition of aforesaid solar assets is in line with the VRET investment strategy as provided in the Trust Deed with a focus to ensure stable distribution to unit holders by owning assets with long term contracts.

The spokesperson also disclosed that the said amount of Rs 665 crore is presently subject to some balance sheet adjustment as on the date of the closing. The company has planned to now install solar PV projects of 155 MW capacity and the money that will be derived from present sale will fulfil the capital expenditure (Capex) needs of the PV projects. Some of the funds will also be allocated to set up a steel manufacturing plant in the near future.

Godawari Power and Ispat Limited is a public entity to build integrated steel manufacturing plants in India with capacity to generate power also. On the other hand, Virescent Infrastructure Investment Manager is an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) founded two years ago that delves in solar power projects and in quick time it has built a capacity of about 450 MW of solar assets that span in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.