Indian cleantech companies raised a total of $131 mln last qtr

By Ruchika Sharma (VCCircle.com)

Indian cleantech companies raised a total of $131 Mn this quarter, an increase of 167% since last quarter.

The Cleantech Group along with Deloitte has released preliminary Q2 09 (April-June 2009) results for clean technology venture investments in North America, Europe, China and India, totalling $1.2 billion across 94 companies. The report also says that India accounted for 11% of the total $1.2 billion cleantech investements made this quarter. North America accounted for 66%, while Europe and Israel accounted for 21% and China for 1%.

The report says that Q2 09 total investments are up by 12% as compared to the previous quarter, however, they have declined by 44% from the same quarter last year. The average round size in Q2 09 was $12.9 million which has gone up from $12.3 million in Q1 09.

"Cleantech venture investment has rebounded moderately after free-falling for two consecutive quarters. We are seeing initial signs of recovery in other cleantech asset classes, including recent activity in solar tax equity, increased M&A levels, as well as billions in government stimulus that are being allocated globally to the cleantech sector over the next several quarters," said Brian Fan, senior director of research, Cleantech Group.

The report further says that, Indian cleantech companies raised a total of $131 million in seven investment rounds (of which one deal amount was not disclosed).

The total cleantech investments in India this quarter have gone up by 167% as compared to the previous quarter (January-March 2009). These investments have also increased by 161% as companred with the cleantech investments that were made in India in the same quarter last year.

The country’s largest cleantech deal in the quarter was the Ramky Enviro Engineers’ (REEL) deal in which the company raised $42 million (Rs 200 crore) form Standard Chartered IL&FS Asia Infrastructure Growth Fund, early last month. The private equity fund had bought a minority stake of less than 5% in REEL. REEL is a Hyderabad based waste management company and is a part of the Rs 2,500 crore Ramky Group.

Also, in the last quarter, the most active cleantech investor in the country was IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited), which invested in two deals. While Ramky Enviro Engineers was one of its investments in the quarter, it also invested around $7 million (Rs 36 crore) in renewable energy company Shalivahana Green Energy Limited (SGEL). Axis Private Equity had also invested $11 million (Rs 54 crore) in SGEL along with IL&FS.