Amarchand MC amp Associates and Lawrence Graham advise on GE investment in Greenko

AIM-listed clean energy producer Greenko Group has raised $50 million (Rs. 250 crore) from General Electric Financial Services, a unit of GE, to expand its wind energy operations in India. This is GE’s first renewable energy investment in India..Amarchand & Mangaldas advised GE with a team led by Partners Santosh Janakiram and Vandana Pai Bharucha..M C & Associates advised Greenko with a team led by Partner Mamta Choudhary..Lawrence Graham LLP acted as International legal counsel with a team led by Partner Sunil Kakkad..Greenko, which develops, owns and operates clean energy projects, has raised the funding for its newly created wind holding company Greenko Wind Project Private Limited. Greenko, which is backed by PE firms like TPG Growth and Aloe Environment Fund, has recently raised $80 million through a primary and secondary offering for its wind strategy. Greenko is also expected to commit $65 million to the new unit, according to VCCircle..The funding from GE will help Greenko Wind Project develop the initial 500 MW out of its planned development of 1 GW of wind energy projects across India. The investment will be done in two tranches of $25 million for equity shares and $25 million for convertible preference shares in Greenko Wind Project..Greenko plans to develop more than 1 GW of wind assets in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. The first project, the 65 MW Ratnagiri wind farm in Maharashtra, is planned for completion in December this year and will use GE’s 1.6 MW turbines..Earlier this year, China and Light Power (CLP) India, a subsidiary of CLP Hong Kong had signed a $198 million (Rs. 933 crore) deal for developing two wind energy projects with domestic turbine maker Enercon (India). One is a 50.4 MW project in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh and the other is a 102.4 MW project in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan..In another wind energy sector deal, Power producer Caparo Energy (India) Ltd (CEIL) had placed a $2 billion (Rs. 9,000 crore) order with Gamesa Wind Turbines, the Indian subsidiary of global turbine-maker Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA to supply turbines to CEIL to generate 2,000 megawatts of wind power. The contract involves supply and commissioning of turbines by the end of 2016, starting with around 150MW in the first phase.