UAE’s Abraaj to acquire stake in Pakistan wind power firm

UAE-based investment firm Abraaj Group has announced an agreement to purchase a majority stake in Pakistani wind power company Jhimpir Power Limited (JPL) Holdings from Burj Capital.

JPL owns a 50MW wind power project at Sindh in the Jhimpir wind corridor in southeast Pakistan where more than 550MW of wind farms are in operation and 1GW is in the construction and development phase.

General Electric has been selected to provide the wind turbines for the project, which is expected to begin commercial operations in Q1 2018. The EPC contractor is Huadong Engineering Corporation.

Abraaj said its energy professionals would actively manage the project through the construction and implementation phases.

“Our investment into the Jhimpir wind corridor marks our second transaction under Abraaj’s dedicated clean energy platform. With a shortage of over 6,000MW and rising power consumption in Pakistan today, we are excited by the sheer size of the clean energy infrastructure opportunity, enabling government policies and the potential of the Jhimpir wind corridor,” said Sev Vettivetpillai, managing partner and global head of Abraaj’s thematic fund business.

In October last year, Abraaj entered into an agreement to divest its 66.4 per cent take in Pakistani utility K-Electric to Shanghai Electric Power Company for $1.7bn

Separately the company also announced its first direct investment in Chile earlier this month through the acquisition of a majority stake in Chilean home design and decoration business Casaideas

Read: UAE’s Abraaj makes first direct investment in Chile