Clear Investments Power Infrastructure Fund, which starts with an initial corpus of $1 billion, would invest in upcoming power and infrastructure projects.
In talks with five firms to offload 25%
NEW DELHI: US-based private equity firm Clear Trade is in talks with five entities including PFC to sell up to 25% stake in its newly-launched $12 billion India-focused power and infrastructure fund.
Clear Investments Power Infrastructure Fund, which starts with an initial corpus of $1 billion, would invest in upcoming power and infrastructure projects.
According to Clear Trade CEO Palak Jain, the firm is in talks with five entities including Power Finance Corp, Morgan Stanley and Axis Bank-promoted Axis Private Equity to dilute up to 25% in the fund.
Apart from Jain, the fund would be promoted by Clear Trade managing director Deepak Kavadia and Philip Ho, managing director of US-based private equity fund Cornell Capital.
“We plan to liquidate 25% stake in the fund to two of the five entities,” Jain said over the phone. She said the fund would begin operations from April 1.
“There is a huge need of capital in power and infrastructure segments in India. There lies a big opportunity in the segment which is growing at an exponential rate,” she said.
Clear Investments Power Infrastructure Fund has already identified 11 power projects — of which eight would be run on coal, two on hydropower and one on
agro-waste.
Without disclosing the names of the projects, Jain said that all of them are above 1,000 MW in capacity.
The fund would also be interested in picking up equity in upcoming as well as existing power and infrastructure projects. “However, we will not be picking up stakes in projects which are close to completion,” Jain said.
The fund also plans to form consortia with domestic players in power sector to bid for the upcoming 4,000 MW ultra mega power projects.
The government has identified nine UMPPs, of which three have already been awarded. Of the balance six, at least two projects including one in Karnataka would be auctioned this year.
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