Longroad Energy Holdings has announced a $500 million equity investment by Munich Re’s MEAG. Longroad Energy affirmed that the investment will support their strategic shift from a primarily “develop to sell” business model, to one that is oriented more towards ownership.
Longroad Energy says that this will accelerate the expansion of its current 1.5GW portfolio of owned assets, to 8.5 GW of wind, solar, and storage projects over the next five years. MEAG is joined by two of Longroad Energy Holding’s existing investors, the NZ Super Fund and Infratil, a listed entity managed by Morrison & Co.
Paul Gaynor, CEO of Longroad, stated, “We are thrilled to have MEAG join with our existing investors to power our robust growth plans, and we appreciate their collective support as we make strides in implementing our ambitious near-term objectives.”
“This important infusion provides Longroad with the capital to rapidly transition to a strategy biased to asset ownership. It also will fuel our acquisition goals and continue to support our investments in adjacent sectors, as we did recently with Valta Energy in the DG space.”
Dr Alexander Poll, MEAG’s Senior Investment Manager responsible for U.S. infrastructure investments, expressed “This investment is a significant step to further increase the U.S. renewable portfolio for Munich Re. Given Munich Re’s strong position in the U.S. insurance market, we are interested in further investing in the United States.”
Martin Kaufmann, Senior Investment Manager MEAG U.S. infrastructure investments, said, “This investment makes an important contribution to Munich Re’s net-zero climate commitment under the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (AOA), which Munich Re joined in 2020. We are also pleased to have teamed up with professional partners on this investment to build a successful long-term relationship.”
NZ Super Fund Head of External Investments and Partnerships Del Hart said, “Longroad has been one of the NZ Super Fund’s most successful investments and, in line with our long-term, partnership approach to infrastructure development, we are pleased to both welcome MEAG as a co-investor and contribute more capital ourselves. It has been exciting to see Longroad grow since we first invested in 2016 and we look forward to seeing it continue to deliver both strong financial returns and positive environmental and social outcomes.”
Longroad’s financial advisors on the transaction included lead advisor Goldman Sachs & Co., as well as KeyBanc Capital Markets and Lazard Frères & Co. LLC. Morgan Lewis served as legal counsel. Barclays served as MEAG’s financial advisor and Holland & Knight as its legal counsel.
Founded in 2016, Longroad Energy Holdings, LLC is focused on wind, solar, and storage project development, operating assets, and services. Today, Longroad owns 1.5 GW of wind and solar projects across the United States and operates and manages a total of 3.5 GW of wind and solar projects on behalf of Longroad and third parties. Upon this transaction closing, Longroad will be owned by the NZ Super Fund, Infratil Limited, MEAG, and Longroad Energy Partners, LLC.
