KKR, an investment firm, announced a $400 million investment in Serentica Renewables, a decarbonization platform that manages the energy transition by giving renewable energy solutions to energy-intensive sectors.
On Tuesday, global investment firm KKR announced a $400 million investment in Serentica Renewables, a decarbonization platform that aims to enable the energy transition by providing sophisticated clean energy solutions for energy-intensive, difficult-to-abate sectors. Serentica has signed three long-term power purchase agreements and is in the process of creating 1,500 MW of solar and wind power projects in states such as Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra.
KKR & Co., Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American worldwide investment firm that manages private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through strategic partners, hedge funds. As of December 31, 2021, the firm had executed over 650 private equity investments in portfolio firms with a total enterprise value of over $675 billion. Assets under management (“AUM”) and fee-paying assets under management (“FPAUM”) were $471 billion and $357 billion, respectively, as of December 31, 2021.
Jerome Kohlberg Jr., along with cousins Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts, launched the business in 1976. They had previously worked together at Bear Stearns, where they conducted some of the initial leveraged buyout operations. KKR has completed a number of transactions since its inception, including the 1989 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, which was the largest buyout in history at the time, and the 2007 buyout of TXU, which is now the largest buyout conducted to date.
This investment will allow the company to move ahead with its ambition of decarbonizing major energy-heavy sectors and contributing to reversing climate change, according to Pratik Agarwal, Director of Serentica Renewables. This purchase is one of India’s greatest industrial decarbonization investments to date, and it advances the global decarbonization goal, which is a focal point of COP27. Sterlite Power’s managing director is Agarwal.
Agarwal previously told the newspaper that almost 600 MW of round-the-clock green power would be given to Vedanta Group as part of the “company’s decarbonization agenda.”
Vedanta Ltd. is increasing its renewable energy procurement to 1 GW. The company is currently constructing over 1,000 megawatts of wind/solar hybrid projects in Karnataka to power smelters in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha via an inter-state transmission network. It wants to grow its renewable capacity by tenfold over the next five years and invest close to Rs 50,000 crore in renewable power, Agarwal said last week at the Global Investors’ Meet in Karnataka.
The company’s medium-term goal is to develop 5,000 MW of carbon-free generation capacity coupled with various storage technologies, supplying over 16 billion units of clean energy per year while displacing 20 million tons of CO2 emissions.
Serentica is KKR’s most recent investment in India and the renewables sector. Since 2011, KKR has invested more than $15 billion in renewable assets such as solar and wind, with a total operational power generation capacity of 23 GW as of December 31, 2021.
After China and the United States, India is the third-largest emitter of GHG (greenhouse gas). The majority of these emissions (70%) are attributed to five industries: power, steel, automotive, cement, and agriculture.
The country has committed to achieving approximately 50% of its cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based resources by 2030, and as it races to meet that goal, investments in the green energy sector, specifically the manufacturing and supply of green ammonia and green hydrogen, are increasing.
KKR invests under its Asia Pacific Infrastructure strategy. Serentica is KKR’s most recent investment in India and the renewables sector.
KKR has deployed over USD 15 billion in equity globally since 2011 to invest in renewable assets such as solar and wind, which have a total operational power generation capacity of 23 GW as of December 31, 2021, according to the company.
