Environmental Capital raises $100m

Environmental Capital Partners has raised $100 million (€71 million) for investments in green consumer products, eco-friendly building materials, alternative energy and industrial environmental services. The initial investors include the firm's founders and New York Private Bank & Trust.

ECP was founded in February by former JP Morgan Partners senior advisor Robert Egan and Hamilton Capital Partners founder William Staudt, as well as Yale School of Forestry Professor Stephen Kellert and former New York Ranger Mike Richter. Egan and Staudt are managing directors, and Kellert and Richter are partners. Christopher Staudt, son of William and former senior associate at New York private equity firm Argentum Group, will be a principle.

Though he admits there are many other players in the trendy alternative energy and cleantech space, Christopher Staudt said the sector was previously populated mainly by venture capital or generalist funds.

“We saw the absence of any leading fund devoted purely to middle market private equity investments in established environmental companies,” he said.

ECP will target investments of between $10 million and $25 million, and also has relationships with other private equity firms and individuals that will enable it to lead coinvestments of between $50 and $75 million, Staudt said. The firm will make growth capital investments in green technology and alternative energy companies, and will seek buyout investments in more traditional sectors such as engineering and consulting for environmental remediation and specialty chemical recycling, among others.

ECP went to market seeking limited partners in May, and began talking with NYPB&T one month later.

The firm declined to comment on whether it is continuing its fundraising efforts, but said the initial $100 million commitment has closed and is ready for deployment.