DG developer Madison Energy Investments hires bankers for sales process
The sponsor for distributed generation developer Madison Energy Investments (MEI) has hired KeyBanc and Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sales process, said two sources familiar with the situation.
The process is said to be in its early days and just recently launched.
Stonepeak, through its Stonepeak Global Renewables Fund, made an initial equity commitment of USD 200m in March 2019 into MEI, which was founded by Steven Cunningham, Jack Hachmann and Richard Walsh, according to a press release.
Stonepeak and Goldman Sachs declined comment on the situation. KeyBanc did not return calls seeking comment.
The goal of the initial four-year investment was for MEI to scale to at least USD 1bn in projects representing at least 550MW in operating C&I assets, according to a March 2019 press release. The platform would focus on ground mount, rooftop and carport projects ranging from 500kW-20 MW and has the flexibility to enter at various stages of the project life cycle.
MEI has since been actively growing its platform through a series of partnerships including a USD 50m commitment announced in August 2021 to finance the construction of solar projects for commercial, industrial and government customers in Connecticut and in November 2021 entering a joint venture with Influent Energy.
In a March 2021 story in NPM, MEI’s Walsh, in a conversation with Norton Rose Fulbright partner Todd Alexander, said MEI is active in 17 states and connects C&I power purchasers with local developers.
The MEI investment was among the anchor investments made by Stonepeak’s debut Stonepeak Global Renewables Fund, which reached a final close of USD 2.75bn this past summer. Last month, MEI brought on Katherine Hamilton, Chair of 38 North Solutions, as its first independent board member.
MEI is the latest among DG and community solar market to hit the auction block which included ECP’s acquisition of Pivot Energy in June 2021 and inclusive of last week’s news that Ares had made a USD 200m preferred investment in DSD Renewables.
Also active in the market looking for a transaction is Standard Solar, Borrego Solar and BlueWave Solar.
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers in March 2022.
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