CleanCapital announced its largest acquisition to date, a 75.2 megawatt solar portfolio made up of 15 operating solar projects in New Jersey. This is the fourth in a series of acquisitions made through CleanCapital's $250 million investment vehicle with CarVal Investors. CleanCapital now owns and operates 180 MW of renewable energy assets and holds $465 million worth of assets under management.
Concurrent to this acquisition, CleanCapital and funds managed by CarVal Investors have closed on a $300 million debt warehouse facility with Credit Suisse.
The solar portfolio, dubbed "Olympic", was acquired from KDC Solar LLC ("KDC"). KDC, a private, non-utility affiliated owner and operator of large-scale C&I solar power generation, is majority owned by Diamond Castle Holdings, LLC. Fox Rothschild represented KDC in this deal.
The 15 operating solar assets, which entered commercial operation between 2011 and 2016, average 5 MW and range in size from 157 kW to 10 MW. Off takers for these projects include Fortune 100 companies as well as local governments and institutions.
"This acquisition, our largest to date, solidifies CleanCapital's position as one of the leading owner-operators of C&I solar in the U.S.," said Thomas Byrne, CEO of CleanCapital.
The acquisition was led by Melinda Baglio, Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel at CleanCapital, who added, "This portfolio is a perfect illustration of how our technology gives us a competitive edge when it comes to conducting due diligence on sizable and complex portfolios."
"As one of the largest C&I solar developer/owner/operators in New Jersey we are pleased to close this transaction with CleanCapital, which is focused on owning C&I solar projects and has the ability and scale to own and operate these C&I projects for many years to come," said Alan Epstein, President and CEO of KDC Solar LLC.
The Olympic acquisition illustrates CleanCapital's effective execution on the aggregation strategy launched in partnership with CarVal Investors in 2018. The company plans to leverage the proceeds to further accelerate acquisitions of small-scale renewable energy projects throughout the U.S., building well-constructed portfolios attractive to institutional investors in the ABS market.
"The debt warehouse facility grants us access to a new type of financing, bolstering our overall capital capacity to acquire distributed solar and energy storage projects," said Matt Eastwick, Chief Investment Officer at CleanCapital. "This seminal financing takes us a step closer to our long-term vision of securitization, which is key to our mission to drive institutional investment in clean energy."
"We're proud to partner with CleanCapital, whose innovative approach to structuring these investments has made it, in our view, the clear industry leader in clean energy finance," said Jerry Keefe, Principal at CarVal Investors. "With CleanCapital's active approach to asset management, we believe renewable energy portfolios have strong potential as long-term investments. Our acquisitions in partnership with CleanCapital total more than 100 MW since May of last year, reflecting our confidence in these assets."