Fundraising

Ex-GE Financial Services exec joins First Reserve

The Greenwich-based buyout firm has expanded its energy infrastructure team with the addition of Luke O’Keefe.

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First Reserve, a private equity firm exclusively focused on the energy sector, has added a new member to its energy infrastructure team with the hiring of Luke O’Keefe, a 30-year industry veteran.

“We are excited to have Luke on board and expect that leveraging his long history of asset management will continue to enhance our portfolio,” First Reserve’s head of infrastructure funds Mark Florian, to whom O'Keefe will report, said in a statement.

O'Keefe joins the asset management team, which works hand in glove with the investment team from initiation through monetisation of an investment.

“In this capacity, the energy infrastructure asset managers are deeply involved in the due diligence of a potential investment and remain involved throughout the life cycle of that investment, including oversight of operations, a focus on equipment and optimisation, vendor management, and diligence/100-day plans for add-on opportunities,” a spokesperson told Infrastructure Investor. 

Most recently vice president of technical risk at GE Energy Financial Services, O’Keefe was in charge of the underwriting, construction and management of electricity projects, providing him with experience in setting up and running both renewable and conventional power facilities.

Before joining the US firm, O’Keefe also worked for Texaco (now Chevron Corporation) and Union Carbide, focusing on the technical and commercial aspects of developing and operating power plants as well as other related projects.

Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, First Reserve has raised more than $30 billion since its inception in 1983. The firm has completed more than 550 transactions, including platform investments and add-on acquisitions, across six continents.

The firm closed First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund II, its second energy infrastructure fund, on its hard cap of $2.5 billion in June 2014. Like its predecessor, the vehicle focuses on contracted power, midstream and energy assets as well as regulated transmission and distribution.