The Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which has been trying to monetise assets to deal with its bloated balance sheet, on Monday said it has signed an agreement to sell 317 megawatts (MW) of solar assets to private equity firm KKR.
The transaction is worth ₹1,554 crore.
The sale includes 169 MW of solar projects in Maharashtra and another 148 MW of projects in Tamil Nadu.
Shapoorji Group’s debt problems surfaced in November, soon after it took group company Sterling & Wilson Solar Ltd public. The Shapoorji Group raised ₹1,920.6 crore by selling a part of its stake in an initial public offering (IPO), promising investors that part of the proceeds would be used to clear the loans they had taken from Sterling & Wilson. But the promoters soon sought an extension for repaying the loans, blaming “significant and rapid deterioration in the credit markets”.
Mint reported last month that the group was in talks with lenders to raise up to $1 billion by pledging part of its stake in Tata Sons Pvt Ltd, the holding company of the Tata Group. Shapoorji holds 18.2% stake in Tata Sons.
Established in 1865, Shapoorji Pallonji Group is present in engineering and construction, infrastructure, real estate, water, energy and financial services, and has around 69,000 employees.
This article was first published on livemint.com
