Aitken Spence buys mini-hydro firm for Rs. 900 m

• To buy 6.6 MW-generating firm jointly owned by Sunshine Holdings and Mouldex
• Move further reinforces its confidence in renewable energy, commissioned country’s first 10 MW waste-to-energy plant recently 
• Sunshine exits mini-hydro power biz, focuses on solar energy

Aitken Spence Chairman Harry Jayawardena

Aitken Spence Deputy Chairman/Managing Director Parakrama Dissanayake

Reinforcing its confidence in renewable energy, Aitken Spence PLC yesterday announced the acquisition of mini-hydro power firm Waltrim Energy Ltd. for Rs. 900 million.

It said it entered into an agreement with shareholders of Waltrim, a subsidiary of Sunshine Holdings PLC, owning 60% stake, and Mouldex owning the balance. 

Waltrim operates three hydropower generation plants in Nuwara Eliya with a total capacity of 6.6 MW under separate wholly-owned subsidiaries – Waltrim Hydropower Ltd., Upper Waltrim Hydropower Ltd. and Elgin 

Hydropower Ltd.

Aitken Spence’s power sector interests include a 100 MW thermal power plant, a 3 MW wind power plant, a 2.5 MW hydro power plant and the country’s first 10MW waste-to-energy plant commissioned recently.

The power sector exposure is via strategic investments that includes plantations, printing and apparel manufacturing. This segment’s revenue in the first nine months of FY21 was Rs. 12 billion, down from Rs. 14 billion a year earlier. Profit from operations was Rs. 840.5 million, lower in comparison to Rs. 1.28 billion in the first nine months of FY20.

Separately Sunshine Holdings said it sold its entire 60.59% stake in Waltrim Energy for Rs. 545.3 million. 

Sunshine via a joint venture with SBI Holdings – Japan separately operates a 1 MW of electricity from rooftop solar and aims to increase to 9 MW in the near future, for which it raised $ 2 million in additional funding. 

Sunshine’s overall energy sector revenue increased to Rs. 348 million in the first nine months of FY21 from Rs. 255 million a year ago due to higher rain fall in the catchment areas in 1HFY21. This has resulted in a profit-after-tax of Rs. 108 million compared to a profit-after-tax of Rs. 29 million reported last year.