Caparo Energy (AIM: CEL), a Guernsey-based company with an eye on generating wind power in India, pulled off an admission to the Alternative Investment Market this morning, raising £50.2m in the process. The move values Caparo at £188.2m. The company now intends to acquire and develop a portfolio of wind power generating assets in the Indian wind energy market with a target total annual installed capacity of up to 5,000 MW. The portfolio will be developed in two concurrent phases: Phase I consisting of 3,000 MW with a target completion date of 2016; and Phase II consisting of 2,000 MW with a target completion date of 2017.

For Phase I, the company has entered into a business partnership agreement with Suzlon Energy, one of the world's leading wind turbine generator manufacturers, to acquire up to 3,000 MW of wind power generation farms. For Phase II, Caparo is in advanced discussions to acquire land and turbines from international vendors in connection with wind power farm development in wind-rich states in India, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The company believes this should provide both geographic and customer-base diversification to its portfolio and that the sites will, if and when acquired, be suitable for installing an additional 2,000 MW of capacity by 2017.

Caparo’s AIM listing comes at a time when the Government of India is seeking to double the country's installed power capacity to 342 GW and more than treble its clean energy capacity to 54 GW by 2017. India boasts a relatively well established, but fragmented wind energy market which the company believes should have considerable growth prospects in the near and medium term.

Ravi Kailas, Caparo’s chief executive, said: “The widening energy supply gap in India presents the company with an extremely exciting opportunity. Through our business partnership agreement with Suzlon, India's largest and only fully-integrated wind turbine producer, we plan to accumulate a substantial portfolio of wind power generating assets. While India's renewable energy market is relatively established, it also has considerable growth prospects in the near to medium term, as the government creates incentives for private operators to help fill the country's energy gap. Caparo Energy looks forward to capitalising on this urgent market need, and unlocking continued economic and social development in one of the world's most significant markets, with a view to becoming one of India's leading…

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