Funds managed by private equity firm Ares Management Corporation have acquired a majority stake in US renewables developer Apex Clean Energy.
The companies said the transaction will provide Virginia-based Apex with additional capital as it seeks to transition to pure-play a renewables independent power producer (IPP). The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, with Apex’s existing management team continuing to lead the firm.
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A developer and operator of utility-scale solar, wind and energy storage facilities, Apex last year secured a US$200 million loan and now has a clean energy portfolio with more than 30GW in development.
Among the solar PV projects it has worked on is the 80MW Altavista plant in Virginia, which was completed earlier this year and has an offtake agreement in place with Facebook.
Apex CEO Mark Goodwin said the Ares deal will allow his company to bolster its position in US utility-scale renewables development, operate projects as an IPP and accelerate its expansion into energy storage, distributed energy resources and green fuels.
“The energy transition has never been more urgent, and the opportunity presented by the industry’s momentum is both immediate and massive,” Goodwin said.
Ares’s previous transactions in the solar sector have seen it invest in PV project developer Heelstone Energy and in 2018 acquire a majority stake in Conti Solar, an engineering, procurement and construction provider that was rebranded to CS Energy and acquired by private equity firm American Securities earlier this year.
