Dubai: The UAE district cooling company, Tabreed, has brought in a new partner for its India operations – International Finance Corp., which is part of the World Bank Group.
This will see IFC take 25 per cent in a new holding company that will be created, which will be registered in Singapore. Tabreed will own the other 75 per cent. To this entity will be transferred Tabreed India, a 100 per cent Tabreed owned business.
The Singapore-based holding company will see initial equity commitments from the two partners of $100 million, and with a mandate to invest in projects of up to approximately $400 million over the next five years. They are targeting a portfolio of approximately 100,000 refrigeration tonnes (RT) servicing industrial, commercial and retail developments across India.
India is strategically very important for us, with demand for energy growing faster there than anywhere else in the world right now. District cooling uses, on average, half the power consumed by conventional cooling methods, meaning it’s an essential part of many countries’ climate goals due to the enormous savings in CO2 emissions achieved through energy efficiency
Key expansion territories
India and Egypt were rated as the big overseas markets ripe for expansion by Tabreed. In the UAE, Tabreed has in recent months consolidated its presence through a series of buyouts of district cooling projects.
IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. India has “low per capita cooling consumption and a rapidly growing cooling market across all sectors, and district cooling adoption is imperative for India to meet its ambitious climate goals,” a statement said.
“There have been a number of promising policy and regulatory developments in India, including the ground-breaking announcement of a Cooling Action Plan to facilitate sustainable growth in cooling demand for the nation, with district cooling being identified as an important intervention area.”
