Finance giants BlackRock and Mubadala buy into India's $4.5bn Tata Power Renewables

Investment giants BlackRock and Mubadala agreed to pay $525m for a stake to help propel Tata Power Renewables, the green energy unit of Indian conglomerate Tata, into the clean power big-league.

BlackRock Real Assets, a unit of the world’s largest asset manager, and Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala, already a major presence in global clean energy via Masdar and other interests, will hold 10.53% of Tata Power Renewables after the deal, valuing the business at around $4.5bn.

Parent unit Tata Power said the investment aims to create “India’s most comprehensive renewable energy platform”.

The revamped unit will house all its renewables-related operations – utility-scale wind and solar, solar cell and module production, EPC contracting, rooftop solar, and solar pumps and EV charging.

Tata said it aims to hit a 20GW portfolio of renewable assets within five years, up from just under 5GW now.

Anne Valentine Andrews, BlackRock’s Global Head of Real Assets, said: “With one of the largest portfolios of solar and wind assets in the country and a very experienced management team, Tata Power Renewables is at the forefront of India’s ambition to secure greater energy stability for its citizens while positioning its economy for a low carbon future.”

Tata Power shares dipped after the deal, which analysts told Indian media was slightly below value expectations for the renewables arm, which joins the likes of Reliance Industries, Adani Group and ReNew Power in targeting explosive growth in Indian renewable energy.

The nation is looking to hit one of the world’s most ambitious renewables goals of 500GW, up from about 160GW now.

Tata Renewables in February signed a deal with German utility RWE to explore potential joint development of offshore wind projects, which the Indian government has said will soon be the subject of long-awaited first tendering.