The founders of Indian auto components maker Bharat Forge are in talks with private equity firms to sell a $300 million stake in their wind energy firm, Kenersys, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The transaction would dilute part of the controlling stake of the Kalyani group in the alternative energy firm and also enable First Reserve Corp, a U.S.-based energy-focused private equity firm, to make a partial exit from an investment it made in Kenersys in 2008, the sources said.
"We are aiming to raise capital by end of this financial year," said one company source.
Kenersys is an integrated wind energy company that designs, assembles and markets wind turbine generators.
The group CFO of Bharat Forge, Kishore Saletore, told Reuters in an e-mail that the company would not comment on market speculation.
First Reserve was not immediately available for comment.
While investment in India's core power generation and distribution space has slowed due to delays in project approvals and a lack of access to fuel, global energy funds have been investing in India's alternative energy sector.
Recently, an infrastructure fund managed by Morgan Stanley bought a stake in Indian wind energy firm Continuum Energy for about $250 million.
The private equity arm of Goldman Sachs in December invested about $200 million in another Indian alternative energy firm, ReNew Wind Power.
India, with 206,456 megawatts of installed power capacity at the end of July, suffers from a peak-hour power shortfall of about 10 percent.
Asia's third largest economy aims to add 88,000 MW of generation capacity based on fossil fuels and hydro during 2012-17, and another 29,800 MW capacity based on renewable energy sources during the same period.
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