Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) and Railpen, an investment manager, have jointly acquired a 94% stake in Constantine Energy Storage (CES), a grid-scale battery energy storage platform.
The companies plan to invest more than £400 million (~$409 million) to build a pipeline of battery energy storage projects in the UK. The projects are currently under development by Constantine Group subsidiary Pelagic Energy Developments.
“The acquisition of CES is an ideal fit for our growing global portfolio of high-quality infrastructure assets. Grid-scale batteries are a critical enabler of the UK energy transition and the country’s net-zero ambitions. We look forward to leveraging our deep asset expertise, working closely with the management team to build and grow this business that will support Britain’s energy needs and transition over the long term,” said Ben Hawkins, Head of Infrastructure, Renewables and Sustainable Investing at AIMCo.
AIMCo has $168.3 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2021.
“We are delighted to acquire a significant stake in CES as part of our commitment to investing in innovative assets that grow our members’ capital over the long term. This acquisition marks Railpen’s first direct investment into battery storage and reflects our ambition to drive positive change through our portfolio, working with management to develop the critical infrastructure needed to support the UK’s transition to net zero. Railpen’s scale and long-term approach makes us an ideal partner for CES’s ambitions to improve battery energy storage capabilities and enhance energy security,” said Lewis Vanstone, Investment Director at Railpen.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2022 Funding and M&A Report for Storage, Grid & Efficiency, there were 13 energy storage M&A transactions in 1H 2022 compared to nine in 1H 2021.
Recently, Spearmint Energy, a green merchant trading company developing, owning, operating, and trading around Battery Energy Storage, acquired the 150 MW Revolution battery energy storage project from Con Edison Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses.
