Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Vienna, VA, MEI is a leading developer, owner, and operator of distributed solar and energy storage projects for commercial and industrial ("C&I") and community-based ("community") customers within the US. Since inception, MEI has built a leading portfolio of more than 386MW across the US

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EQT Infrastructure to acquire Madison Energy Investments, a leading integrated US solar distributed generation platform. (Credit: Sebastian Ganso from Pixabay)

EQT is pleased to announce that the EQT Infrastructure VI fund (“EQT Infrastructure”) has agreed to acquire Madison Energy Investments (“MEI”) from affiliates of Stonepeak Partners LP (“Stonepeak”).

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Vienna, VA, MEI is a leading developer, owner, and operator of distributed solar and energy storage projects for commercial and industrial (“C&I”) and community-based (“community”) customers within the US. Since inception, MEI has built a leading portfolio of more than 386MW across the US. The MEI management team brings deep sector knowledge within distributed generation with more than 50 years of combined experience in acquiring, constructing, financing, and operating assets, having deployed more than 800MW across ~500 projects.

Spurred by customer demand and federal/state policy tailwinds, the distributed renewable generation industry continues to experience rapid growth and is a key facilitator of the broader energy transition. MEI’s on-site and proximate distributed energy projects address critical energy supply issues by delivering significant cost savings vs. retail electricity prices and enabling avoidance of transmission constraints for its customers. MEI’s innovative energy solutions are a key driver of C&I and community customers achieving their energy resiliency goals, which is essential for the global energy transition.

EQT Infrastructure will support the MEI management team and platform by providing access to growth capital to accelerate the deployment of distributed solar and storage assets, offering EQT’s in-house digital expertise to further digitize the organization, and expanding MEI’s reach across a broader customer base.

Alex Darden, Partner and Head of EQT’s US Infrastructure platform, said, “EQT Infrastructure has followed the renewable distributed generation market and MEI closely for several years given the strong thematic tailwinds supporting the sector, prior EQT experience in solar development and operation, and MEI’s strong position as a leading integrated platform in the US. The renewable generation sector is an increasingly important part of the energy transition, and we are excited to partner with the MEI team as they build on their strong track record and continue to provide solar and storage energy solutions that are not only better for the environment, but also have tangible cost savings for their customers.”

Richard Walsh, Managing Partner of MEI, said, “We are looking forward to partnering with EQT’s US infrastructure platform. EQT’s team, experience and growth mindset make them the ideal partner to amplify our business in achieving new heights in clean energy. This is an exciting chapter we call ‘MEI 2.0’ – a transformative time in the industry with strong policy tailwinds, compelling economics for our customers and ever-increasing demand for resiliency and ESG solutions. Our focus remains on our customers and our partners to lead them through this critical energy transition. We could not be more excited to lean into the EQT portfolio and accelerate that mission.”

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close in Q1 2023. With the acquisition of MEI, EQT Infrastructure VI (target fund size of EUR 20.0 billion) will be 0-5 percent invested based on its target fund size. The agreement to acquire MEI is the first transaction signed by EQT Infrastructure VI, which means that the fund has been activated and started charging management fees. EQT Infrastructure V is expected to be 80-85 percent invested following recent acquisitions (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication) and continues to be in its commitment period but management fees will, following activation of EQT Infrastructure VI, be based on net invested capital.

EQT Infrastructure was advised by Barclays (financial) and Simpson, Thatcher, & Bartlett LLP (legal).

Source: Company Press Release