Solar thermal power developer Ausra tapped Greentech Capital Advisors as its financial advisor in its acquisition yesterday by Areva, the Paris-based company best known as a maker of nuclear reactors.
Areva was advised by Deutsche Bank.
Just this summer, UBS’s former co-head of investment banking, Jeffrey McDermott launched New York -based Greentech Capital this summer with a group of Wall Street partners.
Among the partners are Canadian Andrew de Pass, former head of sustainable development investments at Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs alum Timothy Vincent, who leads Greentech Capital’s project finance business.
We have called Greentech Capital and Deutsche Bank and will post any updates.
Areva spokesman Jarret Adams tells GER that no decision has been made on whether Ausra will keep its name or will operate under the Areva brand.
Adams confirms that with the support of Areva’s large balance sheet, Ausra is now back in the utility-scale solar power business. It was just a year ago that Ausra CEO Robert Fishman said that with his company unable to secure financing, it would instead focus on solar thermal systems for the distributed generation market.
Adams said that Areva plans to keep Ausra’s 70 employees, who are for the most part based in the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarter.
Adams declined to disclose how much Areva paid for Ausra. He did say that the French company “paid market price.”