The Hottest Party In Investment Town

SPACs, the current rage on Nasdaq, offer a quicker way for new-age Indian companies to list in the US markets, tap fresh investors, and raise capital

- Naini Thaker & Pooja Sarkar

In July 2018, India’s largest renewable energy company ReNew Power received the market regulator’s approval to raise money from Indian capital markets. The much-anticipated share sale never took off, as the company’s ask of nearly $4 billion valuation did not find any takers and the company and its shareholders did not want to raise capital at diluted valuations.

After all, two months before filing its draft prospectus with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in May 2018, ReNew had raised ₹1,608 crore from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board at ₹415 per share at a valuation of nearly $2.3 billion, a significant premium to what Goldman Sachs had paid in 2016 when it did a follow-up round at ₹205 per share. ReNew’s largest shareholder is Goldman Sachs, which owns 48.6 percent in the company. Japanese power company Jera had paid ₹375.28 per share in March 2017. But the private investment valuation exceeded what public investors were ready to pay.

Things have changed since then. In February 2021, ReNew Power announced that it is listing on the Nasdaq by reverse merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). A SPAC is a blank-cheque company or a shell company that lists through an initial public offering (IPO) and is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).