The acquired portfolio comprises ~207 MW of operational commercial & industrial (C&I) solar assets and 13 MW in the final stages of construction, expected to be completed in the coming months. The move will help Altus Power boost its presence in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, along with marking an entry into Delaware and South Carolina. The company will fund the acquisition through a $500mn, long-term syndicated term loan backed by Blackstone. The transaction will close during Q1 2023. As per Enerdatics’ research, the deal marks the largest asset acquisition of solar C&I assets in the US, in 2022.
Altus Power, which is partially owned by Blackstone and commercial real estate services provider CBRE, is focused on the development and operation of C&I, rooftop, and community solar assets across the United States. As of the end of Q3 2022, the company operated 377 MW of installations across 18 states, with ~50% of the capacity located in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Altus Power also has a 1 GW+ actionable pipeline, of which 50% is under development and the remaining will come from identified acquisitions. The company plans to boost its presence to 22 states in the US and will tap its diversified capital base to fund the expansion. Beyond the $500mn term loan provided by Blackstone, the company has a construction loan facility led by Fifth Third bank, access to other syndicated term loans, and in Dec’22 closed a 5-year, revolving credit facility led by Citibank, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, KeyBank, and Truist Securities.
The Enerdatics research team recently published an analysis on the surge in global M&A activity for C&I, rooftop, and community solar assets in 2022, driven by aggressive corporate decarbonization targets and rising demand for clean power from residential customers. As per Enerdatics’ data, the United States accounts for more than 60% of the transacted capacity and more than 40% of the deal value for sub-utility scale solar assets, in 2022. Going forward, Enerdatics expects the US to continue dominating global solar C&I deal activity, driven by incentives provided in the recently approved Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The bill raised the investment tax credit (ITC) for solar projects from 26% to 30-60%, introduced the ITC for standalone battery storage facilities for all customer classes, and incentivized low-cost supply of solar equipment domestically.
The above analysis is proprietary to Enerdatics’ energy analytics team, based on the current understanding of the available data. The information is subject to change and should not be taken to constitute professional advice or a recommendation.
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