Houlihan Lokey Advises Greenbacker Capital Management

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Greenbacker Capital Management, LLC (GCM), an SEC-registered investment advisor, has been acquired by Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (GREC) in an internalization transaction for $214.36 million in initial consideration. As a result of the transaction, GREC will operate as a fully integrated and internally managed company with its own internal executive management team and other employees to manage its business. The transaction signed and closed on May 19, 2022.

The transaction has the potential to result in a substantial increase in the value of GREC, as the fully integrated and internally managed pro forma company will represent a platform that can take full advantage of many market opportunities, while simultaneously reducing GREC’s overhead and increasing its profitability.

Consideration includes $214.36 million (net of deal related fees and expenses) in initial stock consideration through issuance of 24.365 million of GREC Class P-I shares valued as of March 2022, and a performance-based earn-out totaling approximately 13.1 million Class E-O shares—subject to certain milestone achievements. The transaction was negotiated on an arm’s-length basis between GCM and a special committee of GREC’s board of directors, entirely composed of independent members (the Special Committee).

GCM, founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York City, is a leader in sustainable infrastructure investments that brings clean power opportunities to market so that individual investors can participate in the energy transition.

GREC is a publicly reporting, nontraded limited liability sustainable infrastructure company that acquires and manages income-producing renewable energy and other energy-related businesses, including solar and wind farms. The company seeks to invest in high-quality projects that sell clean power under long-term contract to high-creditworthy counterparties such as utilities, municipalities, and corporations, and is a long-term owner-operator that strives to be a good steward of the land and responsible members of the communities in which it operates. Its focus on power production and income generation creates value that it can then pass on to shareholders while facilitating the transition toward a clean energy future.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to GCM. This is Houlihan Lokey’s second asset management transaction in the renewable energy space, having advised on transactions involving managers of both credit- and equity-focused renewable energy assets.