San Francisco-based Pattern Energy Group has secured more than $800 million in equity funding and could use some of that cash to fund acquisitions of wind projects, both operating or under development. Of the $800 million, about $400 million come from investment funds controlled by New York-based private equity firm Riverstone Holdings.
Pattern is a developer in a hurry. Launched a little more than year ago and backed from the start by Riverstone, it has, in that short time, accumulated a 400-megawatt wind power portfolio. A couple of months ago Pattern acquired the 283-megawatt Gulf Wind project, an operating wind power plant in Texas, from Babcock & Brown. For that deal it secured debt-financing from a bank syndicate that included Mizuho Corporate Bank, Banco Espirito Santo, Bayerische Landesbank, Commerzbank, HSH Nordbank and ING Capital.
A Pattern press release says that over the past nine months it has completed investments in wind energy projects exceeding $1 billion.
“By successfully raising significant equity financing, Pattern Energy is now well capitalized for our growth plans, providing us with the ability to invest in future projects in development, construction and operations, while also giving us the flexibility to accelerate our growth through attractive acquisition opportunities,” Pattern Energy’s CEO Mike Garland said in a prepared statement.
In North America Pattern Energy oversees a 522.4 megawatts project pipeline. The company is currently constructing the 138 megawatts St. Joseph Windfarm in southern Manitoba. In Northern California it is developing the 101.2 megawatts Hatchet Ridge wind farm.
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