CohnReznick Capital Advises Gulf Pacific Power on Acquisition of Majority Stake in Operating Wind Portfolio
CohnReznick Capital is pleased to announce that Gulf Pacific Power, LLC (“GPP”) has completed the acquisition of an 80% stake in EGPNA Renewable Energy Holdings, LLC (“REP”), a holding company that owns an 812 MW portfolio of five utility-scale operating wind projects located in the United States and Canada.
GPP was formed to make equity investments in North American power infrastructure and is backed by commitments from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (“CalPERS”) and Harbert Management Corporation (“HMC”) affiliates.
GPP formed Gulf Plains Wind, LLC (“Gulf Plains Wind”) to acquire the interest in REP from GE Energy Financial Services and Enel Green Power North America, Inc. (“EGPNA”). EGPNA has retained a 20% stake in REP and will continue to operate the five wind projects. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The REP portfolio includes the 235 MW Chisholm View facility in Grant and Garfield Counties, Oklahoma; the 200 MW Prairie Rose facility in Rock and Pipestone Counties, Minnesota; the 200 MW Goodwell facility in Texas County, Oklahoma; the 150 MW Origin facility in Murray and Carter Counties, Oklahoma; and the 27 MW St. Lawrence facility in Newfoundland, Canada. All of the projects benefit from long-term power purchase agreements with highly rated counterparties.
CohnReznick Capital acted as financial advisor to GPP on the transaction, managing both the buy-side advisory and the debt process. MUFG Bank, Ltd. (“MUFG”) fully underwrote the debt facilities subsequently syndicating the debt serving as the sole and exclusive coordinating lead arranger, bookrunner and administrative agent for the Facilities.
“It was a pleasure to support Harbert and CalPERS on this material industry transaction. As the renewables industry continues to mature, we envision significant volume of comparable large-scale opportunities that allow institutional investors and pensions to achieve their critical ESG goals. We look forward to supporting GPP on similar transactions that facilitate the deployment of capital into renewables at a pace and scale that truly moves the needle in the global shift to clean energy,” said Nick Knapp, Senior Managing Director at CohnReznick Capital.
For additional details on this transaction, please contact:
Manish Hebbar
Director
manish.hebbar@crc-ib.com
Nick Knapp
Senior Managing Director
nick.knapp@cohnreznickapital.com
For the full press release, please click here.
About Gulf Pacific Power
GPP was formed to make equity investments in North American power infrastructure and is backed by commitments from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (“CalPERS”) and Harbert Management Corporation (“HMC”) affiliates. Gulf Plains Wind represents the second partnership with EGPNA, following GPP’s 2017 acquisition of an 80% stake in Rocky Caney Wind, a 350 MW portfolio of wind projects in Kansas and Oklahoma. In addition to Gulf Plains Wind and Rocky Caney Wind, GPP’s current portfolio includes investments in Washington County Power, a 627 MW simple cycle power plant in Sandersville, Georgia; Desert Sunlight, a 550 MW solar photovoltaic solar power generation facility in Riverside County, California; Northern Star Generation, a 1,251 MW portfolio of seven thermal power plants in Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania; and Astoria Energy II, a 575 MW combined cycle power plant in New York City.
About Us
At CohnReznick Capital, we provide superior investment banking services to the sustainability sector. Since 2008, we have executed more than 130 project and corporate transactions for renewable energy assets, valued at over $19 billion in aggregate. We are wholly committed to the clean energy transition, and deliver exceptional services for financial institutions, infrastructure funds, strategic participants (IPPs and utilities), and leading global clean energy developers. Our team of experts help our clients break through the dynamic and evolving sustainability sector by simplifying project finance, M&A, capital raising, and special situations. To learn more, please visit https://crc-ib.com, follow @CR_Capital on Twitter, and connect with us on LinkedIn.
