Caparo raises £50.2m in AIM float

12th Oct 2010 17:52

India-focused wind power generation investor Caparo Energy has joined AIM today after a £50.2m fund raising. The net proceeds of the placing at 115p a share were £46.3m. The cash will be spent on purchasing existing projects from Suzlon Energy and to provide working capital. The acquisition of further generating capacity will be funded by a combination of equity and debt. Caparo has already secured outline terms of a $101.9m lending facility from IDFC. Suzlon has granted Caparo first refusal over its projects between 50MW and 100MW in size. Suzlon will deliver up to 3,000MW of projects. In return, Suzlon will receive advances totalling up to $167.9m from Caparo Energy, payable in four instalments over a period of three years.The strategy is to acquire and develop 5,000MW of generating capacity by 2017. Caparo hopes to have taken on 3,000MW of Suzlon projects by 2016 and the rest by the following year. Indian generation capacity of 163GW is not sufficient to maintain the present level of growth and there are already blackouts. The Indian government is targeting a capacity of 342GW by 2017. Favourable tariffs, incentives and Renewable Energy Certificates, mean that the market is skewed towards wind farms. By 2030, 15% of power needs are expected to come from wind. India needs a slightly different technology to Europe because the wind speed tends to be lower.Caparo ended the first day's trading at 115.25p a share, which values the company at £188.59m. Caparo says that it will consider paying a dividend when it has developed at least 500MW of capacity.