Trilegal and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas have advised Norwegian and British investors on the formation of $300 million green energy platform EnerGrid, in partnership with IndiGrid, the Mumbai-based power transmission infrastructure investment trust backed by KKR.
Trilegal advised Norfund (the Norwegian investment fund for developing countries) and KLP (Norway's largest pension company) on their investment through their joint-venture entity, KNI India AS. CAM represented British International Investment (BII), the UK's development finance institution and impact investor, while Khaitan & Co advised IndiGrid.
The newly formed platform, EnerGrid, will focus on bidding for and developing greenfield transmission projects and standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS) in India. The partners have committed approximately $300 million, with each contributing around $100 million. This capital will enable EnerGrid to target projects worth around $1.2 billion over the next few years. Following commencement of commercial operations, these projects will be fully acquired by IndiGrid at a pre-agreed enterprise value.
The deal was signed during COP29 and builds on a previous partnership under which BII and Norfund (through KNI India AS) invested in three of IndiGrid's existing greenfield transmission projects earlier this year.
The Trilegal corporate team advising on the mandate was led by partner Deep Choudhuri, who was supported by senior associate Arunima Singal and associates Isha Sen, Gauri Jindal, and Haritima Kavia. The projects team was led by partners Amar Narula and Megha Kaladharan, supported by associates Yeshwanth Comar, Ujjwal Gupta, and Adi Kidambi. The real estate team was led by partner Rahul Arora, supported by counsel Abhinav Mishra and associates Kashish Jaitley, Gaurav Utagikar, and Saraswati Rawandale.
The Khaitan team was led by partner Gahan Singh, and included principal associate Himanshu Tripathi, senior associate Satwik Bapat, and associate Arnav Mohapatra.
The CAM team was led by senior partner Ravindra Bandhakavi, and partner Amarta Roy, with support from principal associate Adwiteeya Sharma, and associate Raghuvansh Seth. Partner Manasvini Raj, and associates Saaz Bhatia and Sugandha Verma assisted on the project and project finance aspects of the transaction. Partner Kranti Mohan assisted on capital markets aspects of the transaction.
The Indian renewable energy sector has seen unprecedented deal activity recently, with law firms scrambling to advise on multi-billion-dollar transactions. Khaitan & Co and Herbert Smith Freehills advised JSW Energy on its $1.47 billion acquisition of O2 Power from Temasek and EQT (represented by Trilegal and A&O Shearman), while JSA Advocates & Solicitors guided ONGC NTPC Green on its $2.3 billion purchase of Ayana Renewable Power from investors advised by Khaitan & Co and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Talwar Thakore & Associates and AZB & Partners represented Blueleaf Energy in its $400 million investment in Jakson Green's solar projects (advised by Khaitan), and Khaitan & Cleary Gottlieb counseled Just Climate on its $150 million investment in Continuum Green Energy (represented by Trilegal).
These transactions align with India's ambitious target of 500GW renewable energy capacity by 2030, requiring over $400 billion in financing. Major players are accelerating their green energy portfolios, with JSW Energy aiming for 20GW of renewable capacity before fiscal 2030.
