Energy storage and solutions company Livguard is planning to incur a capital expenditure of Rs 3,360 crore ($400 million) to increase its battery capacity to 25 gigawatt hours (GWh) in the next five years. The company plans to fund the expenditure with around Rs 1,270 crore to Rs 1,697 crore in equity and a similar amount in debt, said Rakesh Malhotra, founder, Livguard.
Malhotra said they are one of the few companies which produce three different types of batteries—lithium, lead acid, and sodium-ion batteries. The firm has a total battery capacity is about 12 GWh, out of which 1.2 GWh is getting commissioned. In five years, we will reach 25 GWh. Most of the new additions will be in lithium batteries, he added.
The company has already set up an energy storage systems (ESS) plant in Manesar, Haryana, using lithium-ion phosphate batteries, which is getting expanded to about 1.2 GWh by February next year. The company has invested Rs 380 crore in the facility.
The company may add another ESS plant once the current facility in Manesar is fully commissioned, he said. The next factory would be at a separate location, closer to a port, because it would be for 5GWh and would service both domestic and export markets, he said.
“We have a very strong distribution network in each part of the country. So, the product, the brand and distribution—everything is there for us,” Malhotra said.
The firm is planning to raise around Rs 1,697 crore to Rs 2,121 crore in the next financial year, which will be used for increasing production capacity at its new lithium and solar facilities. This will help the firm generate a turnover of around Rs 10,000 crore, he said.
Private equity investor Chris Capital came in as an investor in 2019.
The recent investments made and the facilities set up in the current and last fiscal year are expected to generate a top line growth of Rs 6,500 crore from this year.
On the IPO plans, Malhotra said the fundraising could be either through private sale or public issue. “It really depends on the market conditions and the environment. We have not decided anything yet. We will start working on the fundraising plans by the end of this fiscal. The company is growing very fast in a great sector, and we are nearly debt free even today,” he said.
The company is looking at a topline of $ 540 million (over Rs 4200 crore) in FY25. The company has been growing steadily at about 35 -40% year on year, they are expecting about a 30% topline growth every year over the next five years as well, he said
The company launched hybrid off grid solar inverters in October this year . The market share of those products is about 4% . It should be around 8- 9% by end of FY 25 and nearly 15% by FY26, he said. The company is expecting revenue of nearly Rs 700 crore from these products by FY 25 and double it to Rs 1500 crore by FY26, he said .
He said 40% of their solar business happens under PM Suryagriha Yojana and they have a market share of 7-8% nationally under this.
