GSO Capital Partners funded Blackstone’s new portfolio company, ClearGen, with $250 million in capital.
GSO will initially commit $250 million to fund ClearGen and expects to expand the commitment as capital is deployed. ClearGen will be managed by industry veterans George Plattenburg, co-founder and CEO, and Collin Franceschi, co-founder and chief development officer.
ClearGen and Blackstone will offer capital solutions and programmatic investments alongside equipment manufacturers, developers and energy service companies that develop, build and operate distributed infrastructure. Through these partnerships, ClearGen will invest in a range of assets, including microgrids, distributed generation, renewable energy combined with battery storage, energy efficiency investments, green transportation and combined heat and power plants. These assets will serve various sectors, including technology, telecommunications, healthcare, real estate, industrials and other commercial and industrial energy consumers.
“Energy consumers face a range of challenges, including cost and risk management and the reliability of supply that affects critical operations. When you combine these with a broad focus on de-carbonization, there is a rapidly growing need for ClearGen’s capital and expertise,” Plattenburg said.
“We are looking forward to partnerships with distributed generation developers and technology companies, and collaboratively developing flexible solutions to improve financing alternatives and increase adoption. ClearGen will finance a wide range of revenue streams and diverse customers to allow our partners to accelerate growth,” Franceschi said.
“We are excited to partner with ClearGen and expand Blackstone’s investments in distributed and sustainable energy infrastructure,” Robert Horn, senior managing director at Blackstone and co-head of GSO’s energy group, said. “We look forward to working with ClearGen and its industry leading partners to meet the significant growth in behind-the-meter energy systems in North America.”
“Our initial investment will position ClearGen to offer the full range of low-cost, flexible capital through credit and insurance businesses that allows Blackstone to be a one-stop shop for infrastructure capital needs,” Rob Camacho, senior managing director at Blackstone and co-head of GSO’s structured products group, said.
GSO Capital Partners is the global credit investment platform of Blackstone.
