Canadian investment firm Brookfield has acquired a 51% share in CleanMax Enviro (CleanMax Solar), a provider of renewable energy to commercial and industrial clients. The company's equity is worth between 3,500 and 4,000 crores. With a little amount of primary infusion into the company, the investment will primarily consist of existing shareholders selling their shares on a secondary market.
This will be Brookfield's second renewal in as many months after they agreed to invest $1 billion in Vineet Mittal's serial entrepreneur-run Avaada Ventures. On March 20, Brookfield and CleanMax began secret negotiations for a deal that would make Brookfield the largest shareholder in the business. Kuldeep Jain, the creator of CleanMax, and US-based investor Augment Infrastructure will hold the majority of the remaining 49% stake. The total investment made by Brookfield in the transaction, including the initial injection and secondary equity purchase, is close to Rs. 2,500 crore.
"The agreement was just inked, and an official announcement is forthcoming. As a result, Brookfield gains control over the organisation, which is the biggest C&I (commercial and industrial) player in India. 350 MW of wind power
is among the more than 1,600 MW of operating capacity that CleanMax possesses. With a foothold in the UAE, Thailand, and Bahrain, CleanMax has also increased its activities in emerging countries.
Brookfield would have over 9 GW of varied renewable energy assets, including wind, solar, and hybrid assets, in seven distinct Indian states at varying levels of operation and development. Kuldeep Jain established CleanMax in 2011. Leading technology firms like NTT, Cisco, Facebook, and Singapore Telemedia are among its clients, as are sizable industrial clients like Ultratech, UPL, Tata Motors, Welspun, and Sansera.
Brookfield declined to comment on the acquisition, while CleanMax's founder Kuldeep Jain did not return requests for comment via email and text. Avaada has already received a $400 million first installment from Brookfield. Avaada will use the money from Brookfield to start up its solar power company as well as its businesses making solar cells and modules, green ammonia, and related products. The trade's advisor is Bank of America.
As of 31 March 2022, US-based Augment Infrastructure owned 53% of the company; founder Kuldeep Jain owned 16.48%; UK Climate Investments owned 17.58%; and a small number of other shareholders, including Godrej Industries and Nadir Godrej, held shares in the company in small proportions. 53% of CleanMax was purchased by Augment in 2021 for 1,650 crore. The International Finance Corporation and Warburg Pincus holdings were acquired in this process. The company's filings with the registrar of companies, CleanMax generated revenue of 701.72 crore in FY22 as opposed to 621.26 crore in the prior year. In FY22, the company reported a profit of 29.85 crores, up from FY21's profit of 25.3 crores.
As to a study released on March 28 by credit rating service Care Ratings, CleanMax has 2,145 crores in debt, which is made up of NCDs costing 599 crore, long-term bank facilities around 531 crore, and short-term bank facilities at 1,015 crore. In addition to CleanMax, Fourth Partner Energy, another C&I renewable energy company, is looking to raise money by selling a portion of its private equity stakeholder TPG's 52 percent ownership.
