First Reserve promotes two energy infra team members

First Reserve, a private equity firm focusing on the energy sector, is promoting two members of its energy infrastructure team to managing director as of January 1, 2015, the Connecticut-based firm said in a statement on Monday.

“I am extremely proud of the team we have built at First Reserve, and these promotions reflect both our deep bench of talent and our commitment to excellence,” First Reserve chief executive William Macaulay said.

Ruijs, currently a director at the firm’s London office, “has been instrumental to First Reserve’s efforts in the contracted midstream, power and energy assets sectors,” according to the statement. Ruijs helped spearhead the firm’s recent investments in PetroFirst Infrastructure Partners, a midstream joint venture launched by First Reserve and Petrofac in June 2014. He also played a key role in the Dublin Waste-to-Energy facility in which First Reserve provided a €75 million convertible preferred investment.

Saxe, a director at the firm’s Greenwich headquarters, was also promoted to managing director. “He has been a driving figure in the firm’s efforts in the Contracted Midstream sector, including the Caliber Midstream partnerships with Triangle Petroleum and First ECA Midstream with First ECA,” according to the statement.

First Reserve and Triangle Petroleum launched Caliber Midstream in October 2012 to serve as a full-service pipeline solution to producers for oil, natural gas, flow back and produced water, and fresh water in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana.

First ECA Midstream is another joint venture the private equity firm established with the Energy Corporation of America in October 2011. Both investments were funded through First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund I (FREIF I), which closed in May 2011 on $1.23 billion.

“These two individuals have played an important role in the success of First Reserve’s energy infrastructure programme to date, and we expect them to be key figures in the future of the firm,” said Mark Florian, head of infrastructure funds of First Reserve.

The promotions also “highlight the strength of the firm’s energy infrastructure programme,” which closed on its second fund – First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund II (FREIFF II) – this past June, on its hard cap of $2.5 billion, exceeding its initial $2 billion target. Its successful fundraising also led to First Reserve placing 13th in this year’s Infrastructure Investor 30 (II 30) awards.

Like its predecessor, FREIF II focuses on contracted power, including conventional generation and renewable power; contracted midstream; contracted energy assets; and regulated transmission and distribution.

Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, First Reserve has raised more than $30 billion since its inception in 1983. The firm has completed more than 475 transactions, including platform investments and add-on acquisitions, across six continents.