Reliance Industries has completed the acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd (SWREL) for Rs 2,845 crore.
Reliance had in October 2021 announced two back-to-back acquisitions – a $771 million buyout of Norway-based solar panel manufacturer REC Solar Holdings and purchase of a 40 per cent stake in solar Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) firm SWREL, formerly known as Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited, in a multi-stage transaction for about Rs 2,845 crore.The acquisitions were done to help the billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s oil-to-retail conglomerate create a multi-billion-dollar clean energy portfolio.
In a stock exchange filing, Reliance said its subsidiary Reliance New Energy Ltd (RNEL) bought 1.96 crore shares or 10.37 per cent stake of SWREL at a price of Rs 275 apiece aggregating to Rs 737.54 crore from Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Pvt Ltd and Khurshed Daruvala.
“Consequent to such acquisition RNEL holds 40 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital of SWREL,” it said.
The firm initially got a preferential allotment of 2.93 crore shares of 15.46 per cent equity at a price of Rs 375 per equity share on December 31. Thereafter, by way of off-market purchase it bought 1.84 crore shares (9.70 per cent) on January 7 and 84.76 lakh hares (4.47 per cent) on January 29.
REC makes solar-grade polysilicon and solar panel and modules at facilities in Norway and Singapore and has more than 1,300 employees globally. SWREL on the other hand has the expertise in executing 11-plus gigawatts of solar turnkey projects globally.
