Inox Clean Energy inks $600 million deal for Macquarie’s Vibrant Energy
The deal will add scale to Inox Clean’s renewable portfolio and bring in largely operational assets at a time when consolidation in India’s clean energy sector is picking up.
NEW DELHI : New Delhi: Inox Clean Energy Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire Macquarie Group’s renewable energy platform Vibrant Energy, in a transaction valued at an enterprise value of $600 million and an equity value of $200 million, according to two people aware of the development. The deal was announced by Inox Clean, a part of the INOXGFL Group, on Sunday.
"The acquisition would be funded by the through the pre-IPO (initial public offering) fundraises, internal accruals and capital from the promoters," said one of the two people mentioned above. Earlier this month, INOX Clean Energy withdrew its filing for a ₹6,000 crore public listing and is expected to submit a fresh filing. The company has already got commitment for around ₹5,000 crore of funds to be raised before the IPO, the person added.
The acquisition will add scale to Inox Clean’s renewable portfolio and bring in largely operational assets at a time when consolidation in India’s clean energy sector is picking up.
Macquarie Asset Management had put Vibrant Energy that has a 1.33-gigawatt (GW) renewable portfolio, with about 800 megawatts (MW) operational, up for sale after an earlier sale process run by JP Morgan was dropped due to valuation differences.
Mint had earlier reported about six bidders, including INOXGFL Group being shortlisted to conduct due diligence for Vibrant Energy in a transaction code named ‘Project Notos’. The other bidders in the fray included Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries Ltd, Torrent Power Ltd and General Atlantic-owned Actis LLP.
Vibrant is a renewable energy independent power producer catering to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers with a total portfolio of 1,337 MW. It has projects located across multiple states, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Devansh Jain, executive director of the INOXGFL Group, said: “With this and other acquisitions nearing closure, Inox Clean is on course to reach its targeted renewable energy installed capacity of 3 GW by FY26-end, the fastest company to do so in India." The acquisition sets up “a strong base for Inox Clean to achieve its target of 10 GW of installed capacity by FY28", he added.
Commenting on the agreement, Mark Dooley, executive director, Macquarie Group Ltd, said: “The sale of Vibrant Energy, an asset held on Macquarie Group’s balance sheet, is a further step in the transition of our renewable energy activities to an asset management model under Macquarie Asset Management Green Investments. We are proud to have worked with the Vibrant Energy team to grow the portfolio from 65 MW to 1337 MW within a short span of time."
Inox Clean and Macquarie Group, did not immediately respond to queries mailed on Sunday afternoon on the enterprise and equity value of the transaction.
Standard Chartered Bank was the advisor to Macquarie on this transaction.
M&A momentum
The renewable energy space has witnessed several deals in the past one year. In December last year, O2 Power, which was owned by European alternative asset manager EQT and Singapore’s Temasek was taken over by JSW Neo Energy for an enterprise value of $1.47 billion. Further, in June this year, Japan’s financial services firm Orix Corp sold its 17.5% stake in Greenko Energy Holdings to AM Green B.V., owned by Greenko Group founders Anil Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli.
Earlier, Hexa Climate Solutions acquired Fortum India Pvt Ltd (FIPL) in April 2025, and ONGC NTPC Green Pvt Ltd (ONGPL) bought National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)-backed Ayana Renewable Power Pvt Ltd in February 2025.
As reported by Mint, Welspun World has hired EY to sell a majority stake in Welspun New Energy, its clean-energy platform, for an equity value of around $100 million. Mint also reported last month that General Atlantic-owned Actis Llp is interested in buying back Sprng Energy group from Shell Plc in a deal having an enterprise value of around $1.55 billion.
The momentum of merger and acquisitions in India is expected to increase amid an evolving renewable energy space. According to a report by Enerdatics, a data and intelligence provider in the renewable energy space, platform exits and public-to-private transitions are set to rise India and Western Europe, with private equity capital targeting discounted portfolios
Notably, of the $43 billion worth of M&A deals globally in the first half of 2025, India and Brazil dominated the flows among emerging markets, with multi-billion-dollar platform acquisitions.
The World Energy Investments 2025 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed India has seen the third-largest growth in power generation capacity in the world after China and the US over the past five years. While growth in power generation has come from all sources, there has been a surge in investment in renewables, led by solar PV, which constitutes more than half of the total non-fossil investment over this period, it said.
“In 2024, 83% of power sector investment went to clean energy. India was also the world’s largest recipient of development finance (DFI) funding in 2024, receiving around USD 2.4 billion in project-type interventions in clean energy generation," said the IEA report. "This helped bring the share of non-fossil power generation capacity to 44% in 2024, approaching India’s target of 50% by 2030."
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