Carlyle closes second power fund on $1.5bn

The Carlyle Group has closed Carlyle Power Partners II (CPP II) on its $1.5 billion target, the firm said, sister publication Private Equity International reported.

CPP II seeks investments in power generation assets in North America using the technical, engineering and management capabilities of power operations platform Cogentrix Energy, it said.

CPP II’s current portfolio has Cogentrix, natural gas-fired plant operator Southeast PowerGen, which Carlyle acquired in December 2014, and natural-gas fired power plant Rhode Island State Energy Center, which Carlyle acquired in December 2015, according to the Carlyle website.

Cogentrix was acquired from Goldman Sachs, along with five other operating assets, in December 2012 by Carlyle to form Carlyle Power Partners. Since launch, Carlyle has made 25 more investments in power plants across the US. Once CPP II’s acquisition of Essential Power is completed this year, the Carlyle Power Partners portfolio will have 28 facilities in total, via CPP I and CPP II, the firm said.

CPP II received its first commitment in June 2014, according to its August 2015 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. At that time, the fund had raised $839 million.

The document also said there are 58 investors in the fund, which employed TCG Securities, Avalon Wealth Management, Etgal Holdings and Butterfield Asset Management as its advisors.

According to PEI Research & Analytics, CPP II’s investor base includes the New Mexico State Investment Council, which committed $100 million, Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico, which committed $65 million, and Maine Public Employees Retirement System, which committed $50 million.

Carlyle Power Partners’ team of 10 investment professionals is led by managing directors Robert Mancini and Matthew O’Connor, according to its website.

Carlyle manages $183 billion in assets across 126 funds and 160 fund of funds, as of 31 December.

A spokesperson was not available to comment.