Saudi utility developer Acwa has completed its acquisition of a 32 percent stake in Shuaibah Water and Electricity Co. from Badeel for SR843.3 million ($224.8 million), leveraging its ownership in the project company to 62 percent.
A filing on the Saudi Exchange reported that it had initially announced the transaction in December, and it was completed with regulatory approvals, together with shareholder and lender approvals.
The acquisition was carried out using Alwaha Projects Co., which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Acwa and funded using the company’s funds.
The acquired stake reflects the total ownership of Badeel in Shuaibah Water and Electricity Co., the owner of the Shuaibah independent water and power project, which is one of the largest integrated utility assets in Saudi Arabia.
Acwa stated that it had a 30 percent interest in the project before the transaction. Badeel, officially known as Water and Electricity Holding Co., is completely owned by Public Investment Fund, which is also Acwa’s largest shareholder.
Its underlying asset is the Shuaibah IWPP, which was commissioned in 2010 and has a generation capacity of 900 megawatts and a desalination capacity of 880,000 cubic meters of water per day.
The company indicated that the asset has minimal operational risk, and the cash flows are still contracted. The offtaker makes capacity payments to the plant up to the expiry of the original power and water purchase agreement in 2030.
Acwa noted that the transaction is projected to have an incremental contribution to earnings and free cash flow, as well as raise recurring net income and free cash flow to equity.
The agreement comes at a time when Acwa has a growing global utility portfolio with reported net profit after taxes and equity increase of 5.42 percent to SR1.85 billion in 2025, with revenue increasing by 17.73 percent to SR7.41 billion.
The company ended the year with 108 assets across 15 countries, with 93 gigawatts of power generation capacity, 9.2 million cubic meters per day of desalinated water production, and SR437 billion in assets under management.
