The India Grid Trust (IndiGrid), an investment trust, has completed the acquisition of NER-II Transmission from Sterlite Power at an enterprise value of Rs 4,625 crore.
IndiGrid is the country's first and the largest power sector Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT). With this acquisition, IndiGrid's asset under management (AUM) has increased 34 percent to Rs 20,000 crore.
The platform's asset portfolio now consists of 13 power transmission projects, with a total network of 38 power transmission lines and 11 substations extending over 7,570 circuit km and 13,350 MVA across 17 states and one Union Territory.
The acquisition of NER-II was envisaged as part of the framework agreement signed with Sterlite Power in April 2019. The Investment Managers of IndiGrid had inked a definitive share purchase agreement for the acquisition of NER-II on 5 March 2021.
Pursuant to this, the unitholders approved the transaction unanimously with 100 percent of the votes cast in favour of the acquisition in the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held on 19 March 2021.
NER-II is part of the Inter State Transmission Scheme (ISTS) network and was awarded on a build, own, operate, maintain (BOOM) basis with a contractual period of 35 years. The project has 11 elements, including two substations of 1,260 MVA capacity and four transmission lines extending over 830 circuit km.
The assets span across the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura. The project will strengthen the power transmission network in the northeastern states and address transmission, sub-transmission and distribution system needs of the region.
This marks the company’s 10th successful asset transfer in under four years. The mega project will bring reliable power to 5.3 crore people in India's North-East region.