Funds managed by the Infrastructure and Power strategy of Ares Management Corp. are leading a strategic equity investment of up to $600 million, including capital from potential co-investors, in SB Energy Global LLC, SoftBank Group Corp.’s U.S. Climate Infrastructure Technology platform. The majority of the funding has been committed by Ares-managed fund, with the rest expected to come from coinvestors.
“SoftBank launched SB Energy to accelerate access to reliable, cost-effective, renewable energy,” states Michel Combes, CEO of SoftBank Group International. “Combining AI and technology with renewable deployment at scale is critical to the energy transformation and benefits people across the globe. Our new investment from Ares brings together Ares’ climate infrastructure experience, SoftBank’s AI and technology ecosystem, and SB Energy’s track record of execution into a single platform to deliver flexible renewable energy at scale.”
SB Energy has expanded its Climate Infra-Tech platform. It plans to deliver 10GW of renewable energy storage and storage projects by 2025. Since its launch in the U.S. in 2019, the company developed, financed and began construction on nearly 1.7GW of utility-scale, solar projects. Of these, 1.3GW are providing reliable, clean energy to Texas, California, and California.
SB Energy continues to grow its renewable energy storage and greenfield development projects through partnerships, acquisitions, and greenfield development. It also continues to expand its digital and technological capabilities. SB Energy has established partnerships with financial institutions in order to secure more than $4B in tax equity and project funding since its inception. This was to help develop and build renewable energy projects and continue investments in the clean-energy transition.
“We are proud to announce Ares’ funds’ investment, which launches a new chapter for SB Energy and an expansion of our collaboration with Ares that began in 2020,” says SB Energy co-CEO Rich Hossfeld. “With the support of both Ares and SoftBank, SB Energy will rapidly scale our strategic platform in renewable energy, storage and new digital products as a developer, owner, and operator of the next generation of climate infrastructure and technology.”
“We are excited to work with SB Energy to leverage our combined strengths in driving the clean energy transition,” comments Andrew Pike, partner and co-head of Ares Infrastructure and Power. “Our investment in SB Energy builds on our existing relationship and reflects our focus on supporting high-quality climate infrastructure platforms through our innovative capital solutions.”
“Ares and SB Energy share a commitment to accelerating the transition to a low carbon economy through the development of essential climate infrastructure assets,” mentions Mike Roth, partner in Ares Infrastructure and Power. “With the added support of Ares’ flexible capital, SB Energy is well-positioned to meet the growing demand for sustainable clean energy and build on its strong track record, including having brought online nearly 2 GW of solar in just two years.”