Investors on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange have bid for 1000MW of renewables capacity at an event co-hosted by FTI Consulting.
In the auction project developers and owners of mid- and late-stage development assets offered up their wind and solar projects to indications of interest.
Winning bidders secured an exclusivity period in which to narrow purchase and process terms.
The seven projects, totalling just over a gigawatt, comprise four investment tax credit-eligible utility-scale photovoltaic developments, in Michigan, Ohio, New Mexico and Texas, with a combined capacity of 571MW, two production tax credit-qualified wind projects in Texas and California, plus a community rooftop solar scheme in Washington DC.
The Project Sales and Cocktails event was co-hosted by FTI Consulting’s investment banking subsidiary FTI Capital Advisors, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, DNV GL and Novogradac.
The event brought together 150 senior leaders from the renewable energy industry, including independent power producers, developers, project owners, sponsors, fund investors and lenders in the US clean energy sector.
No financial commitments were made on the evening, but a number of agreements of high strategic value were confirmed.
FTI Consulting global clean energy practice co-leader Chris LeWand said: “The M&A market for North American renewables continues to thrive, but one of the core challenges the market continues to face is bridging the gap between project developers, owners and an increasingly diversified pool of financial and strategic investors.”
He said simplifying and facilitating the acquisition process has long been an objective for the market, and the auction at the stock exchange has been a “successful experiment”, combining the networks of four of the most prominent financial, technical and legal advisors in the sector.
LeWand added: “It has highlighted considerable ongoing appetite from the investment community for high-quality renewable energy assets – and we’ll be watching with interest as discussions progress over the next month or so.”
DNV GL Energy North America regional president Richard Barnes said: “This is the first time such a diverse group of prominent industry players from the energy and finance community has been brought together for an event like this on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
“As an independent technical advisor at the centre of the renewables industry, we see this as a way to move the market forward by creating new green investment opportunity and value for our customers.”