Adia invests in IPO of India’s Ather Energy

• Electric scooter maker targets $360m
• Company to build new factory
• Adia expanding India activity

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) is among investors in the initial public offering of Indian electric scooter maker Ather Energy.

Ather, India’s fourth-largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer, is seeking to raise around $360 million to fund expansion.

The proceeds will be used to build a new manufacturing facility in the central western Indian state of Maharashtra and reduce debt, the company has said.

Adia, the world’s fourth largest sovereign wealth fund by value which the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute estimates manages more than $1 trillion of assets, is expanding its investments in India.

“India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and has been a key focus for Adia’s investment activities for a number of years,” Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Adia Managing Director, said in a statement in October.

“We have built an extensive portfolio that spans asset classes.”

Like sister Abu Dhabi SWFs, such as Mubadala Investment Company, Adia has been exploring investments in India’s electric vehicle and clean energy industry since at least 2023. That year, it was linked to reported talks to invest in the EV unit  of India’s TVS Motor Co. Mubadala invested $425 million in Tata Power’s renewables platform in 2022. 

Together with other investors, such as Custody Bank of Japan, and US asset managers Franklin Templeton and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Ather has raised $161 million so far in its IPO, according to filings on the Bombay Stock Exchange. 

The remaining shares are being offered to the wider public this week and will list on May 6. Like the other so-called anchor investors, Adia was allocated Ather shares worth more than 1 billion Indian rupees ($12 million).

Last year Adia set up a unit in Gujarat’s GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) to hold its India assets. Adia will undertake a phased transfer of its Indian investments to its GIFT City unit, it said in October.  

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Adia invests across “major asset classes in India, including significant holdings in public and private equity, and infrastructure,” it said at the time, without giving details.

Founded by Indian Institute of Technology graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013, Ather is headquartered in the city of Bengaluru in southern India.

It has EV manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru’s IT park Whitefield, and in Hosur in the India state of Tamil Nadu.

It has also established an EV charging network across India called Ather Grid.

Hero MotoCorp Limited, an Indian multinational motorcycle and scooter manufacturer headquartered in Delhi, owns 37 percent of Ather.