Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure has today announced the launch of Bridgin Power, a power generation business that will pursue gas-fired power projects and focus on delivering an equitable energy transition in Southeast Asia.
According to a press release, Bridgin Power is targeting a total portfolio capacity of 1.2 GWs across the region by 2028.
Target geographies include Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Srilanka.
Bridgin recently closed its first investment by acquiring 49% shareholding in a 220MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power plant in the Bhola region of Bangladesh.
Bridgin acquired this stake from India’s Shapoorji Pallonji group, a global diversified institution with a sector focus on engineering and construction, infrastructure, energy, real estate, water and financial services.
The Bhola power plant has a 22-year PPA with Bangladesh Power Development Board and achieved commissioning in June 2021.
The project was financed initially by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and IDCOL Bangladesh, who have now been replaced by a consortium comprising SMBC, ING, DBS, Bank of China, Mizuho and SocGen.
Clifford Chance and Shearman Sterling acted as international legal advisors while F&A and DFDL acted as local law counsel.
Standard Chartered, PMC Treasury, Riverstone also acted as advisors for the transaction.
Sanjiv Aggarwal, partner, Energy Infrastructure at Actis said: “We’re excited to be launching a business spanning Southeast Asia, a region which has increasing power demands and where we can leverage Actis’ proven strategy of aggregating energy assets into a scalable regional platform which enables a just and equitable Energy Transition. We believe natural gas is an essential fuel for the medium term offering flexible low emission power as the region gradually transitions to more green energy sources. Bridgin Power’s investment in Bhola power project in Bangladesh is a step in that direction. Investing from our USD six billion Actis Energy five Fund, in partnership with Bridgin’s management team, we aim to deliver up to 1.2GW of power capacity by 2028.”
Dennis Foo, group chief executive officer, Bridgin Power added: “We’re delighted to have closed our first investment in a country which has a strong need for gas power to meet its growing power demands and which provides a stable PPA framework for investors. The acquisition of Bhola asset sets us on our path to create an energy platform of scale, using natural gas as a bridge to a sustainable and low carbon future.”
Mukundan Srinivasan, managing director, Shapoorji Pallonji Infra said: “We are happy to be associated once again with Actis for this transaction after the successful divestment of our solar assets to their India renewable platform. This deal also demonstrates SP Infra’s continued track record of developing high-quality infrastructure assets in its chosen spaces, creating value for its stakeholders and being the partner of choice for high-quality international investors. We wish them the best for their further activities and success of Bridgin Power.”
Shami Nissan, partner and head of Sustainability at Actis commented: “Actis is a signatory to the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative which supports the goal of Net Zero gas emissions by 2050 and we recently announced our own portfolio-wide 2050 Net Zero target. Our investment in Bridgin Power will allow us to utilise our Transition Tool to continue our commitment as a core enabler of the global low carbon economy.”
The Actis Energy Infrastructure team invests on a global scale in buying and building power generation and distribution businesses.
Highlights over the past year include completing fundraising for Actis Energy 5 with USD six billion of investable capital, enabling it to mobilise more capital to invest in the energy transition and successfully realising three major energy investments in Latin America.
In addition, in April, Actis announced the signing of an agreement to sell Sprng Energy, one of India’s largest renewable energy companies.
