Piramal Enterprises, Canadian pension fund set up $600-mn renewable energy trust; CPPIB to hold 60% in new venture

New Delhi: Piramal Enterprises on Tuesday said it has signed an initial pact with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to co-sponsor a $600 million renewable energy-focused infrastructure investment trust (InvIT). “With an initial corpus of $600 million( about Rs 4,162 crore), and the option to scale further, the InvIT would seek to acquire up to 1.5-2 GW of stable and cash generating renewable assets on a hold-to-maturity basis, with a firm focus on diversification of both asset type as well as off-taker profile,” Piramal Enterprises said in a release. [caption id=“attachment_2334664” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] As per the release, both Piramal Enterprises and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) will act as co-sponsors of the proposed InvIT and hold up to 75 percent of the units. CPPIB has committed $360 million and holding up to 60 percent while Piramal Enterprises has committed $90 million and holding 15 percent. The InvIT would seek to raise capital from other like-minded investors for the remaining 25 percent. In the interim and prior to its launch, Piramal Enterprises and CPPIB will jointly warehouse seed assets for the proposed InvIT. Piramal would act as the sole investment manager as well as project manager for the proposed InvIT, the release added. Piramal Enterprises has presence in financial services, pharmaceuticals and health care insights and analytics. Its consolidated revenues were over $1.9 billion in 2018-19. CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments.