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— Kamal Narang

Expanding capacity: Mr Yogesh B.Mathur (right), Group Chief Financial Officer, Moser Baer India Ltd, with Mr Tarun Jaitly, Head Capital Markets, at a press conference in the Capital on Thursday.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept 4 Moser Baer India Ltd on Thursday said its wholly-owned photovoltaic subsidiary has raised Rs 411 crore from a clutch of global investors including Nomura, CDC Group, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, IDFC PE and IDFC.

Moser Baer has diluted 6.5 per cent stake in the PV business for raising these funds, which would now be utilised for expansion of its solar PV capacity both in crystalline silicon and thin film solar verticals, largely at the Greater Noida.

“The capex for 2008-09 is $400 million (about Rs 1,760 crore) for expansion in crystalline silicon and thin film capacities. We expect the latest round of funding to contribute to our PV expansion plans. For the rest, a significant part of the requirement will be met from our previous round of funding concluded last year, and our leverage in terms of debt,” Mr Yogesh Mathur, Group CFO of Moser Baer, said at a conference here.

The company had raised about Rs 400 crore in November 2007. “We had raising funds from IDFC Private Equity, IDFC, Government of Singapore, and CDC Group, last year. However, the previous round of fund raising did not lead to an equity dilution as it was a structured transaction. The actual conversion into equity is based on determination of stake of the investor at the time of IPO sometime in future,” Mr Tarun Jaitly, Senior General Manager, Capital Markets, Moser Baer, said.

Moser Baer — whose holding in the PV business (under two subsidiaries MBPV and PV Technologies) is pegged at 93.5 per cent — said it may raise further up to Rs 200 crore on the “current terms.” The current transaction values Moser Baer’s PV business at Rs 6,350 crore.

Moser Baer plans to use the capital infusion for capacity expansion of its crystalline silicon and thin film solar verticals. “For crystalline silicon, we currently have 80 MW capacity, and we plan to increase that to 180 MW; whereas our present capacity in Thin Film is 40 MW and we will be adding 65MW. In addition, the existing 40 MW would also be retrofit into tandem junction ramping it by another 16 MW,” Mr Jaitly added. The company said that majority of the ongoing capex in Chennai was “back-ended” including acquisition of land and commencement of civil works. “It will be ramped to 500 MW Thin Film capacity by 2011,” he pointed out.

Asked about its plans for listing the PV business, Mr Mathur said, “The business entails growth opportunities and continues to require significant capital. We see the business being able to tap the public and private market, but the focus is currently on preparing and executing our plans and enhancing the capacity. At an appropriate time, we will see and take it to market.”

On a specific query on whether the company saw a listing possibility in the coming three years, he said, “Yes.”

Fuelled by the recent technological advancements, it is estimated that solar market would demonstrate a 43 per cent CAGR and is poised to achieve grid parity in the short to medium term. The current demand projections translate to a market value of $50-70 billion by 2010, according to certain estimates. The solar market has grown from $13 billion in 2005 to an estimated $40 billion this year.

Demand from Europe — particularly Spain, Italy and Germany — has been strong. A key trend in the solar energy sector is the diversification away from the top markets such as Germany and Japan. Spain and other European countries and the US are projected to drive demand through 2009; the growing demand in developing nations such as India and South Korea are expected to further drive the market up.

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