PVTIME – QIC, a long-term specialist manager in alternatives, said today that QIC Global Infrastructure has invested more than $2 billion over the past 18 months to accelerate the delivery of sustainable decentralized infrastructure in North America. In making these investments, consistent with its strategy across energy transition, decarbonization, and distributed infrastructure, QIC has multiplied the size of its U.S. infrastructure portfolio since 2019. This growth reflects:
- QIC’s follow-on investment in Generate on behalf of its global funds and clients, leading the $2 billion capital raising Generate announced today, accelerating its deployment of sustainable decentralized infrastructure solutions at scale. This investment follows QIC’s Lead Investor role in Generate’s $1 billion capital raising in February 2020.
- Completion of the acquisition by QIC and its partner Ullico of the acquisition of CenTrio (formerly known as Enwave Energy USA), the largest pure-play district energy platform in the U.S., on July 16, 2021.
QIC also announced today that it has appointed Peggy Smyth as U.S. Senior Advisor, Global Infrastructure, based in North America, and Chair of the CenTrio Board of Directors. In her Senior Advisor role, Ms. Smyth, the former Chief Financial Officer of National Grid U.S. and current Independent Director of Etsy and Frontier Communications, will work closely with QIC Global Infrastructure’s North American investment team, comprising six investment professionals based in New York, on investment strategy and asset management.
Ross Israel, Head of Global Infrastructure at QIC, said, “The investments we have made in the U.S. over the past 18 months significantly expand our North American infrastructure portfolio and footprint, now spanning 30 states. They are consistent with our thematic strategy across energy transition, decarbonization, and distributed infrastructure – themes that have never been more relevant. We will continue leveraging our energy sector expertise to accelerate deployment of sustainable decentralized infrastructure solutions across North America while delivering meaningful benefits for customers and communities and building long-term value for our investors.”
Arash Shojaie, QIC’s Energy & Utilities Sector Leader for North America, said, “Since 2019, QIC has led Generate’s $3 billion equity capital raisings, acquired the district energy platform CenTrio, acquired Australia’s largest off-grid power generation company Pacific Energy, and positioned PowAR to become one of Australia’s leading wind and solar generation platforms through the pending A$2.9 billion acquisition of Tilt. Our ability to secure and grow leading decarbonization and decentralization investments has never been stronger, even as our pursuit of opportunities in digital infrastructure, waste, and traditional utilities gains momentum. We are delighted to welcome Peggy to our team as we continue to grow our North American infrastructure platform.”
Generate builds, owns, operates, and finances sustainable decentralized infrastructure that delivers affordable, reliable resource solutions for companies, governments, and communities. Over the last seven years, it has built about $2 billion in sustainable infrastructure assets across the energy, waste, water and transport markets, deploying proven solutions that can have an immediate impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving resource efficiency. The company works with more than 40 technology and project development partners to build infrastructure that serves the mission-critical needs of over 1,000 customers, including companies, universities, school districts, cities, and non-profits across North America.
CenTrio is the largest pure-play U.S. district energy provider. As an industry leader, it delivers reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable energy to customers across the U.S., providing critical heating, cooling, and electricity solutions to more than 400 buildings in urban centers, universities, and hospitals. The company owns and operates assets in Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, Syracuse, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland, operating intelligent thermal energy systems that generate, store, and share energy.
The acquisition of CenTrio further diversifies QIC’s North American infrastructure portfolio, which, in addition to Generate, includes U.S. concession investments in the campus parking systems at Northeastern University through MasParc and Mobility and at The Ohio State University through CampusParc, as well as the Long Beach Courthouse PPP. QIC Global Infrastructure now has investments in 30 states across more than 330 cities in the U.S. employing a total of 280 people.
With the addition of CenTrio, QIC’s global infrastructure footprint has now grown to encompass 21 assets in six countries across the transport, energy and utilities, and social/PPP sectors.
