Carlyle to buy US power platform from IFM

Washington-headquartered The Carlyle Group has agreed to acquire IFM Investors' Essential Power platform via its Power Partners II fund for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition involves a portfolio of assets located across the mid-Atlantic and New England regions including natural gas- and petroleum-fired plants as well as hydroelectric generating units. The assets altogether represent 1,767 net megawatts (MW) of generation capacity.

Carlyle managing director and co-head of Carlyle Power Partners (CPP) Matt O'Connor said in a statement that his team saw Essential Power's assets as “well positioned in markets characterised by strong demand, transparency and reliability.”

Included in the package are the 575MW gas-fired combined cycle Newington plant in New Hampshire, an 80 percent interest in the 265MW gas-fired combined cycle Lakewood plant in New Jersey, the 358MW gas-fired Rock Springs peaking facility in Maryland, three gas-fired peaking units across Massachusetts and five hydroelectric plants in Massachusetts. 

CPP's total power generation portfolio will be grown to 5,800MW once the acquisition of the Essential Power platform is complete. The transaction remains subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals. 

While Julio Garcia, head of infrastructure in North America for IFM, did say he was pleased that “an owner with a substantial established generation platform such as [CPP] is acquiring the company”, he did not specify why IFM chose to offload the platform. The firm also exited a 900MW renewables unit for more than $3 billion in December.