The operating assets comprise two 5MW plants in Himachal Pradesh in the Chamba and Kangra districts and a 10.25 MW plant on the Arkavati River in the state of Karnataka.
The Himachal Pradesh projects have high load factors with over 60% achieved due to the snow fed rivers in Himachal Pradesh. The scheme in Karnataka is a rain-fed river with a load factor of up to 40%. All the schemes have long term contracts with State utilities and two of the three projects are certified for CDM or carbon credits.
The transactions will have a total cost of €24M which Greenko expects to finance through borrowings of approximately 70% of the value and the equity recently raised from the Global Environmental Fund subscription which closed on 25 November 2009. The Group has arranged debt leverage with a local banking partner, Yes Bank, and the acquisition is due to complete legal documentation in two to three weeks.
Greenko will also aquire licenses to develop a cluster of 25MW run-of-river hydro projects totalling 100MW on the Cauveri River in Karnataka. The company anticipates that the projects will be completed in the next three years following a total capital expenditure of €90M. Again it is planned that these projects will be 70% funded through debt.
The transactions will increase the secured capacity of the company from 350MW to 470MW.
