ACME Solar mobilises Rs 1,300 cr from anchor investors; IPO opens for subscription

New Delhi: Renewable energy firm ACME Solar Holdings Ltd has collected Rs 1,300 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial share-sale which opened for public subscription on Wednesday.

Foreign and domestic institutions who were allotted shares in the anchor round include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HSBC Global Investment Fund and Abakkus Fund, according to a circular uploaded on BSE's website late night on Tuesday.

Additionally, Nippon India Mutual Fund (MF), HDFC MF, ICICI Prudential MF, TATA MF, Mirae MF, Edelweiss MF, Bandhan MF, SBI Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Canara HSBC Life Insurance and Edelweiss Life Insurance participated in the anchor round.

As per the circular, ACME Solar Holdings has allotted 4.5 crore shares to 58 funds at Rs 289 apiece. This aggregates the transaction size to Rs 1,300.50 crore.

The issue, with a price band of Rs 275 to Rs 289 per share, opened for public subscription on November 6 and will conclude on November 8.

The Rs 2,900 crore IPO of the Gurugram-based company is a combination of a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 2,395 crore and an Offer-for-Sale (OFS) of shares valued at Rs 505 crore by ACME Cleantech Solutions.

ACME Solar Holdings intends to utilise the proceeds from the fresh issuance to the extent of Rs 1,795 crore towards payment of debt and a portion will be used for general corporate purposes.

Over the years, ACME Solar has diversified and expanded its portfolio from solar power projects to becoming an integrated renewable energy company in India.

The company develops, builds, owns, operates and maintains utility-scale renewable energy projects through its in-house engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) division, as well as its operation and maintenance (O&M) team. ACME Solar generates revenue by selling electricity to various off-takers, including central and state government-backed entities.

As of June 2024, 18 out of its 28 operational projects are located in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana representing 85 per cent of its total operational projects capacity.

It has an aggregate operational project capacity of 1,320 MW of solar power projects. It also had under construction contracted project capacity of 1,650 MW, including 1,500 MW of solar power projects and 150 MW of wind power projects.

On the financial front, ACME Solar's consolidated revenue from operations increased 1.88 per cent to Rs 1,319.25 crore during the fiscal year 2024 from Rs 1,294.90 crore in the previous year. The company had a turnaround from being loss-making in FY23 to posting a profit of Rs 698.23 crore in FY24.

The company said that 75 per cent of the issue size has been reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 15 per cent for non-institutional investors and the remaining 10 per cent for retail investors.

Nuvama Wealth Management, ICICI Securities, JM Financial, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors are the book-running lead managers, and KFin Technologies is the registrar of the issue.