Asia's Richest Person Mukesh Ambani Shells Out $1B For 2 Solar Deals In Major Push Toward Green Energy

Reliance Industries, headed by Asia's richest person Mukesh Ambani, is making a big play in the green energy space.

What Happened: Reliance has acquired Norweigian solar panel maker REC Solar Holdings AS in a deal valued at $771 million, the company said in a statement Sunday. The same day, the company also announced it would acquire 40% of  Sterling & Wilson Solar Ltd, which at the time of closing on Friday was valued at $372 million.

The two acquisitions would help Reliance expand into new green energy markets around the globe with the U.S., Europe, Australia, and other countries in Asia being the primary focus.

The REC acquisition would help Reliance manufacture metallic silicon and solar panels at its planned Jamnagar gigafactory, according to a report from Bloomberg.

"Sterling and Wilson has a presence in 24 countries and has installed 11 gigawatts of solar power projects," Reliance noted.

"It is in line with our strategy of investing in new and advanced technologies and operating capabilities aimed at achieving Reliance’s goal of enabling 100 GW clean and green energy before the end of this decade," Ambani said in a statement on the acquisition of REC Solar Holdings.

The company has been dominating headlines globally lately with Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) investing heavily in its telecommunications subsidiary JIO Platforms.

The company also launched JIO Mart, which rivals Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) in India. 

The renewable energy sector has been buzzing in India and global electric vehicle market leader Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is planning a foray into the country while braving several hurdles.

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Photo: Courtesy of World Economic Forum via Flickr