Business & Money | Wednesday 25 January, 2017 11:59 am |

The Abraaj Group (“Abraaj” or the “Group”), a leading investor operating in growth markets with c. US$10 billion in assets under management, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a majority stake in Jhimpir Power Limited (JPL) Holdings Pte. Ltd. from Burj Capital, an international renewable power developer, through its Funds.

JPL Holdings Pte. Ltd. wholly-owns a 50 MW wind power project (the “Project”) in the Jhimpir wind corridor in Southeast Pakistan. The Project achieved financial close in August 2016 and is expected to commence operations in Q1 2018. The Jhimpir wind corridor is an established area for wind projects with 550 MW+ of capacity already operational and a further 1 GW+ under the construction and development phase. The Project will be powered by General Electric (“GE”) wind turbines, with the Huadong Engineering Corporation appointed as the EPC contractor and GE providing the overall operations and maintenance for the Project. 

 

Abraaj’s experienced and dedicated energy professionals focused on developing and investing in clean energy across growth markets will actively manage the Project, through the construction phase to implementation of the Project. Furthermore, Abraaj’s strong prior experience in power generation in the country will be leveraged during operations to deliver efficient capacity into the local market.

 

Abraaj is keen to continue its active role in addressing the power supply gap in Pakistan, stemming from favorable macroeconomic growth drivers including a rising middle class, urbanization and historic underinvestment in the energy sector. Recognizing the importance of clean energy, the Pakistan government has also implemented a number of regulatory reforms to facilitate foreign and local investments into clean energy generation. Additionally, a long term power purchase agreement executed with the Central Power Purchasing Agency Limited of Pakistan, a tariff indexed to the US dollar and a sovereign guarantee strengthen the investment thesis for Projects executed in the Pakistan’s wind energy sector.

 

Commenting on the transaction, Sev Vettivetpillai, Managing Partner and Global Head of Abraaj’s Thematic Fund Business, said, “Our investment into the Jhimpir wind corridor marks our second transaction under Abraaj’s dedicated clean energy platform. With a shortage of over 6,000MW and rising power consumption in Pakistan today, we are excited by the sheer size of the clean energy infrastructure opportunity, enabling government policies and the potential of the Jhimpir wind corridor. Having invested across the energy value chain in growth markets, including the power sector in Pakistan, we look forward to growing our renewable footprint and consolidating our presence in the sector.”

 

Saad Zaman, Partner at The Abraaj Group, added “We are pleased to announce the investment of Abraaj into JPL Holdings and look forward to building on the momentum we have gained from the financial closure achieved on our first wind project in Pakistan. The attractive renewable power policy framework implemented by the government has created a strong impetus for the private sector to invest in clean energy. Leveraging on our combined operational capabilities, project management experience and know-how, we will successfully develop the Jhimpir wind corridor project and enhance power generation in Pakistan.”  

 

The Abraaj Group has comprehensive investment experience across the energy value chain and has invested c. US$ 1 billion in 10 investments in growth markets.  In October 2016, Abraaj entered into a definitive agreement to divest its 66.4% shareholding in K-Electric to the Shanghai Electric Power Company Limited, marking one of the largest private sectortransactions in Pakistan and representing one of the global power industry’s most well-recognized operational turnaround stories.