Mumbai-based investment firm Singularity AMC, backed by stock market investor Madhusudan Kela and led by son Yash Kela, has agreed to invest up to Rs 500 crore ($57.3 million) in a power producer via its second private equity fund.
Singularity, a decade-old firm which makes both public equity and private equity investments, has backed Bhilwara Energy Ltd, the flagship company of the LNJ Bhilwara Group.
The firm is investing through the Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund II, its second PE fund which surpassed the base target in January. The fund collected around Rs 1,800 crore and exercised the greenshoe option as it neared its final close, VCCircle reported at the time. The fund has a base target of Rs 1,500 crore and a greenshoe option of Rs 500 crore. The sponsors themselves have committed about Rs 240 crore to the fund.
The fund will initially invest Rs 250 crore and get a 9.6% stake in Bhilwara Energy. It also has an option to invest an equal additional amount after the closing of the initial investment, according to a stock exchange filing.
Bhilwara Energy will use the money to drive organic growth, establish new projects and pursue strategic acquisitions and partnerships, Singularity said in a release.
The power producer will also use the money to build an integrated energy transition platform, HEG Greentech. The new entity will focus on power assets, battery-grade anode materials, food-grade bottle-to-bottle recycling, graphene and advanced battery systems manufacturing for energy storage and electric vehicles, Singularity said.
Bhilwara Energy, which was backed by global investors including Statkraft, AECOM and International Finance Corporation in the past, operates across the hydropower and green energy sectors.
Its portfolio includes an operational hydropower capacity of 278MW from two projects and a 14MW wind power project. The company is 51% owned by its promoters and promoter-owned entities and 49% by another group company HEG Ltd, a graphite electrode manufacturer.
HEG’s board last year decided to demerge its graphite business and merge its remaining business with Bhilwara Energy to create HEG Greentech, which would be eventually listed on the stock exchanges.
The LNJ Bhilwara group was set up in 1960 by LN Jhunjhunwala, who set up a textile mill in Bhilwara in Rajasthan.
HEG Greentech is an energy transition platform with presence across multiple strategic segments, Singularity AMC co-founder and CIO Yash Kela said. “With financial closure nearing completion to execute the planned capex of Rs 3,000 crore, (the) platform carries only execution risk – one that is well mitigated by the promoters’ proven track record of successfully executing adjacent businesses,” he added.
Founded in 2021, Singularity AMC is a part of Singularity Ventures. The Mumbai-based asset manager has backed companies like consumer engagement platform WebEngage, men’s innerwear brand XYXX, battery materials firm Lohum, commercial EV maker Qucev, motorcycle brand Jawa and dairy products company Akshayakalpa Organic.
Singularity Ventures in November invested in Arihant Foundations and Housing Ltd, alongside Lotus Family Trust, the family trust of the Kela family, and CatarLane founders Mithun Sacheti and Siddhartha Sacheti.
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