Macquarie, NTPC among those interested in IL&FS assets

Half-a-dozen investors, including ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, are interested in acquiring the ?5,000- crore clean energy business of debt-laden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), said one person aware of the development. The transaction for one of India’s largest wind energy platforms will rank among the marque deals in the space, given that IL&FS has operational plants aggregating 873.5 megawatts (MW) and 104MW under construction. This is part of the asset monetization programme being undertaken by IL&FS to reduce its debt burden of ?91,000 crore. “There is considerable interest in IL&FS’s wind energy assets with around half-a-dozen firms looking at it,” said the person cited above, requesting anonymity. The other investors may include India’s largest power generation utility NTPC Ltd, GAIL (India) Pvt. Ltd and Solar Energy Corp. of India Ltd. According to a report on Tuesday, these companies have expressed interest in buying some of the renewable energy assets of IL&FS.