AES and AIMco have completed the acquisition of sPower from Fir Tree Partners (FTP) for $1.6bn.

AES is an energy company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and AIMco is an Alberta, Canada-based institutional investment company with more than $100bn in assets.

The acquisition was announced back in February this year and AES and AIMco agreed to retain a stake slightly below 50% in sPower. The consideration includes $853m in cash, plus the assumption of $724m in non-recourse debt.

sPower was formed in 2014 and is claimed to have grown into one of the largest independent utility-scale solar business developers in the US.

Presently, it has an operating portfolio of 1.3GW, consisting of more than 75 utility scale solar and wind projects across 11 states in the US. 

The construction projects undertaken sPower in 2016 employed over 2500 workers resulting in a total number of 1.5 million hours of work.

The company is expected to provide clean power to about 250,000 homes after the completion of its near-term pipeline in 2017, while offsetting about 3 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. 

sPower Board chairman and Fir Tree Partners founder Jeffrey Tannenbaum said: "It is extremely rewarding to realize Fir Tree's vision for sPower with the closing of the transaction between our company and AES and AIMCo.

"We built a highly profitable business that will drive skilled worker job creation, local economic activity, and reduced environmental damage.  We achieved this in spite of many obstacles that appear when a new industry challenges the status quo. 

“It is our clear hope that sPower, led by its highly-talented team, serves as a major catalyst for the acceleration of AES' portfolio to renewable energy, and that its positive impact continues far into the future."

sPower board member Scott Troeller said: "sPower's innovation and significant commercial success in just three years is testament to its outstanding management team and demonstrates the increasingly attractive attributes of solar and wind generation. Renewable energy is no longer about relying on government subsidies." 


Image: AES and AIMco complete sPower’s acquisition. Photo: Courtesy of Anusorn P nachol/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.