Sembcorp to buy wind assets in China, India for $200m

SINGAPORE – Sembcorp Industries on Nov 27 said it has inked two separate agreements to acquire wind assets in China and India for a total consideration of $200 million.

The assets collectively amount to 428 megawatts (MW), the group said in an announcement on the Singapore bourse.

Sembcorp’s wholly-owned unit Sembcorp Energy (Shanghai) Holding signed an agreement with Envision Energy to acquire the full share capital of Qinzhou Yuanneng Wind Power for an equity consideration of about $130 million. Qinzhou Yuanneng owns 200 MW of operational wind assets in Guangxi, China, the company said.

Another wholly-owned unit of Sembcorp, Green Infra Wind Energy, has also signed an agreement with Leap Green Energy – an independent power producer in Tamil Nadu, India.

Under this agreement, Green Infra Wind Energy will acquire the full share capital of two special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for an equity consideration of about $70 million. The two SPVs own 228 MW of operational wind assets in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, India.

The acquisitions will be funded through a mix of internal cash resources and external fundings and are expected to be completed by the first half of 2024, subject to fulfilment of applicable conditions precedent in each case, including regulatory approvals.

With this, Sembcorp noted that it has signed agreements to secure 673 MW of renewables capacity since Nov 6, when the company announced its target to achieve 25 gigawatts (GW) of gross installed renewables capacity by 2028.

These include the proposed acquisition of 245 MW of renewables assets in Vietnam announced on Nov 10. Upon completion of these acquisitions, Sembcorp’s gross renewables capacity will reach 12.6 GW globally.

The two acquisition agreements are in Sembcorp’s ordinary course of business and will not have a material impact on the company’s earnings per share and net tangible assets per share for the financial year ending Dec 31.

Shares of Sembcorp fell 0.2 per cent on Nov 27 to close at $5.12. THE BUSINESS TIMES