Blackstone invests INR2.75bn into Indian power

The Blackstone Group is planning to invest INR2.75 billion (€47.2million; $59 million) for an estimated 12.5 percent stake in Monnet Power, a power generator and supplier in Chhattisgarh, India, a Blackstone spokeswoman told PEI Asia.

Blackstone will make the investment from its mega fund, Blackstone Capital Partners V, which closed in 2007 at $21.7 billion.

Monnet Power is a wholly owned subsidiary of Monnet Ispat and Energy, a coal-based sponge iron manufacturer with facilities in Raipur and Raigarh. Monnet Ispat is a portfolio company of Indian private equity firm CX Partners, which invested about $33 million for an 8 percent stake in the company in May this year.  

Monnet Power says it will use the capital to create additional power plants in the region. Currently, the company is establishing a 1050 megawatt power plant at Angul in the Indian state of Orissa. 

The deal marks Blackstone's eleventh investment in India. Thus far the firm has invested over $1 billion in the country. Blackstone’s most recent investment in the country came by way of an INR2.25 billion investment in Jagran Media Network, an Indian media and communications group.

In April, the firm announced that it would be right-sizing the size of its latest buyout fund to $12.5 billion, down from its initial target of $20 billion. Fund VI has collected about $9.5 billion as of March this year.