Orix, a financial services group headquartered in Tokyo, has announced that it will acquire 51% stake in seven wind power generating subsidiaries which it jointly owns with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Wind Energy Ltd (IWEL).

IWEL is the wholly-owned subsidiary of IL&FS Energy Development Company Limited which, in turn, is a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), Telangana-based infrastructure development and investment company in which Orix has a significant share.

Orix and IL&FS are looking towards obtaining all necessary approvals to turn these seven subsidiaries into Orix’s wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Orix has owned 49% of the shares of seven Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with the aim of developing its wind power generation business in India. These seven SPVs operate wind power projects with a combined capacity of 873 MW in seven states mainly in the southern and western parts of India, where wind conditions are particularly favorable.

According to the company’s statement, “In future, India’s wind power generation market is expected to experience high growth. For this reason, Orix has moved to purchase the remaining 51% of the shares of each of the seven SPVs owned by IWEL, and turn them into wholly-owned subsidiaries.”

In a similar development a couple of months ago, Japanese trading and investment company Mitsui & Co Limited announced that it had entered into an agreement with Indian engineering, procurement, and construction company (EPC), Mahindra Susten, to develop and operate distributed solar projects in India jointly. Mitsui has acquired a 49% stake in Marvel Solren Private Limited, a Mahindra company that already has a portfolio of 16 MW of distributed solar.

In November 2018, the IL&FS announced that it is going to achieve the resolution of the IL&FS group through certain measures, including asset divestments.  Of the energy assets, operating wind power generating projects with an aggregate capacity of 873.5 MW, as well as under-construction wind power projects with a total capacity of 104 MW were proposed to be sold.

Image credit: IL&FS