Brookfield buys Emami Group’s solar business; deal part of conglomerate’s non-core asset sale strategy.

Canadian investment giant Brookfield Asset Management has sealed a deal to buy out Emami Power, the solar power business of Kolkata-based diversified conglomerate Emami Group.

When contacted, Emami Group confirmed the transaction.

"As part of our divestment plan of non-core business assets, we are happy that we could conclude the deal with Brookfield Asset Management to sell our solar power business – Emami Power,” said Harsha V Agarwal, director, Emami Group.

Emami Power is not linked directly to the listed flagship firm Emami Ltd and is a unit belonging to the promoter group.

“The Emami group is looking to speedily pare its debt burden at the group level and become debt free. This transaction is a part of their ongoing non-core asset monetisation exercise,” said a person familiar with the transaction.

“Brookfield is very bullish on the solar power segment and is looking to build a platform or portfolio of solar and alternate power assets in India. The solar power assets they have acquired from Emami Group are operational and functional,” said a second person with knowledge of the deal.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the deal valuation.

Both the persons spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.

Moneycontrol is awaiting an email response from Brookfield Asset Management and will update this article as soon as we hear from the firm.

Yes Securities was the financial advisor to the Emami Group for the transaction while law firm Khaitan & Co was the legal advisor, according to company officials.  Moneycontrol is awaiting an email response from Khaitan & Co and could not immediately contact Yes Securities.

According to the Emami Power website, the company had already set up 11 MWp ( mega watt peak) solar power projects in Karnataka, 10 MWp solar power projects in Gujarat, a 3.3 MWp solar power project in Tamil Nadu and a 22.5 MWp solar power project in Uttarakhand.