Private equity firm Ares Management is leading an equity investment of up to US$600 million in SB Energy, the SoftBank-owned solar developer.
This newest partnership with Ares will add to the already more than US$4 billion in tax equity and project financing SB Energy has received since its creation in order to bolster its portfolio of renewable and energy storage projects around the world.
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Michel Combes, CEO of SoftBank Group International, said: “Our new investment from Ares brings together Ares’ climate infrastructure experience, SoftBank’s AI and technology ecosystem, and SB Energy’s track record of execution into a single platform to deliver flexible renewable energy at scale.”
SB Energy aims to build a portfolio of 10GW of renewable energy and storage projects in operation or under construction by the end of 2025.
Since it entered the US market in 2019, SB Energy has worked on 1.7GW of utility-scale solar projects, with the majority (1.3GW) in Texas and California.
Rich Hossfeld, SB Energy co-CEO, said the support of Ares and SoftBank will help scale up its strategic platform in developing new renewable and storage projects.
Last week, SB Energy signed a deal with First Solar for 1.5GW of thin-film PV modules to be deployed across several plants in the US.
In recent years, Ares Management has invested in the solar sector with the acquisitions of a majority stake in Conti Solar in 2018 and Apex Clean Energy last October, as well as investing US$200 million in DSD Renewables last week.
