Total Inks $2.5 Billion Deal to Add 20% Stake in Adani Green

(Bloomberg) -- Total SE has agreed to a $2.5 billion deal that includes a minority stake in India’s renewables giant Adani Green Energy Ltd. as it expands its efforts to diversify beyond oil.

Paris-based Total will acquire 20% of Adani Green, take a board seat and add a 50% stake in a portfolio of operating solar assets with capacity to transmit 2.35 gigawatts of power to consumers, the company said Monday in a statement. That confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report that Total and Adani Green were in advanced talks on a deal.

“India is the right place to put into action our energy transition strategy based on two pillars: renewables and natural gas,” Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in the statement.

The deal is the third in a week for Total in the renewable area, following the acquisition of a French biogas producer and of a stake in a large U.S. solar portfolio. The French oil and gas giant and its European peers are increasingly investing in clean power and renewable fuels amid mounting pressure from investors, governments and consumers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Shares in Adani Green fell about 1.9% as of 11:09 a.m. in Mumbai, giving the company a market value of about $20 billion.

(Updates to add details of deal in first paragraph)