Riverstone acquires North American Energy Group
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- Category: Business
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26 Jun 2009
- Published on Friday, 26 June 2009 12:51
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Private equity firm Riverstone Holdings has invested $400 million in Pattern Energy Group LP, formerly Babcock & Brown’s North American Energy Group. Images sourced from Riverstone and Babcock & BrownRiverstone Holdings LLC, a private equity firm that focuses on energy and power, has acquired Babcock & Brown’s North American Energy Group and its wind development portfolio for an undisclosed price.
The joint venture will be renamed Pattern Energy Group LP, an independent energy company that develops, constructs, owns, and operates renewable energy projects across North America and parts of Latin America.
Riverstone is providing $400 million in capital to expand and support Pattern Energy’s renewable energy business, which will give an opportunity for Riverstone to grow in the renewable energy market in North America. Pattern Energy has a current development pipeline exceeding four gigawatts (GW) of wind power and power transmission projects spanning 11 states and four countries.
Pattern Energy has already successfully developed and placed in operation two gigawatts of wind power across 11 states under Australian firm Babcock & Brown. According to a report from Reuters, Babcock & Brown still has around 550 megawatts (MW) of wind power developed last year that are being sold separately starting in January. Those assets were estimated to be worth around $1 billion.
Hunter Armistead, Executive Director of Pattern Energy, expressed delight over the new partnership with Riverstone. “It was clear we needed to find another party that was interested in investing in renewables and valued our team. We found the perfect partner in Riverstone -- we have a new backer,” he said in an interview with Reuters.
Babcock & Brown’s market value suffered a steep drop due to the global credit crunch, which had a negative impact on the company’s debt-funded expansion model.
Armistead added that aside from the $400 million investment from Riverstone, Pattern Energy plans to raise funds through partner or non-recourse financing.
The company plans to do financing for its first construction project in the coming weeks, and will work on future projects in California and Illinois.
Formerly Babcock & Brown LP’s energy group in North America, Pattern Energy Group LP is an independent, fully-integrated energy company that develops and operates renewable energy and transmission projects across North America and some parts of Latin America. Its four offices are located in San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, and New York.
Riverstone Holdings LLC is an energy and power-focused private equity firm that has approximately $17 billion under management across six investment funds. The firm also owns the largest renewable energy fund in the world, and has committed over $12 billion to 60 investments in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Riverstone has offices in New York, Houston, and London.
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Natassia Y. Laforteza
Sources:
1 http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=...
2 http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN2528956720090625?pageNumber=2&virtualBrand...
