Houlihan Lokey Advises Coso Geothermal Power Holdings

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce the sale of Coso Geothermal Power Holdings, LLC (Coso or the Projects) to Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (Atlantica), a sustainable infrastructure company focused on energy generation assets. The transaction closed on April 7, 2021.

Located in Inyo County, California, at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, Coso is the third largest geothermal plant in the United States and serves a crucial role in California's decarbonization efforts. The Coso plant consists of four separate but interlinked geothermal plants that have a generation capacity of approximately 142 MW, enough to power nearly 125,000 homes. The Projects are fully contracted through two power purchase agreements with investment-grade counterparties. Additionally, the Coso team leverages their substantial industry expertise to extend the useful life of the plants beyond the industry average and ensure reliability to the grid, as the resource supplies approximately 6% of the total geothermal power in the United States.

A consortium of investors, including Avenue Capital LP, Bardin Hill Investment Partners LP, Corre Partners Management, LLC, and Voya Financial, previously owned the plant. Following the closing of the transaction, Atlantica will maintain Coso’s existing management team to continue to operate the Projects.

Atlantica is a London-based firm focused on long-life facilities and owns a diversified portfolio of renewable energy, efficient natural gas, electric transmission line, and water contracted assets based primarily in Spain and South America. Excluding Coso, Atlantica currently owns 27 assets, including 1,551 MW of total installed renewable generation capacity, 343 MW of natural gas generation capacity, 1,166 miles of electric transmission lines, and 17.5 Mft3 per day of water desalination assets.

Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor to Coso and assisted in marketing, structuring, negotiating, and performing other financial aspects of the transaction on its behalf. This transaction highlights Houlihan Lokey’s continued success advising the largest market participants in the power industry.