Milbank LLP advised Northampton Capital Partners LLC (“Northampton”), an alternative asset management firm focused on infrastructure investments across North America, in partnership with pension investor APG Asset Management (on behalf of pension fund ABP) and other institutional investors, in reaching an agreement to form Cypress Infrastructure and make a strategic preferred investment in a renewable energy portfolio owned by Terra-Gen, LLC, one of the largest independent, integrated renewable energy producers in the United States, jointly owned by Masdar and Igneo Infrastructure Partners. The transaction marks the initial investment for Cypress Infrastructure, a Northampton managed investment vehicle focused on providing flexible, creative, long-term capital solutions to high-quality US renewable energy projects.
The portfolio includes two assets: Lockhart, a 128.7 MW four-hour battery energy storage system in San Bernardino County, California, and Monte Cristo, a 238.5 MW wind project in Hidalgo County, Texas.
The Lockhart energy storage project comprises 164 battery enclosures and utilizes the existing gen-tie line connecting to Southern California Edison’s Kramer Junction Substation. The use of the resource adequacy capacity is fully contracted under a long-term resource adequacy agreement.
The Monte Cristo wind farm will generate more than 850 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually, equivalent to powering approximately 81,000 homes a year. The facility’s capacity has been contracted to two corporate buyers through long-term power purchase agreements.
The Milbank team was led by Global Corporate/M&A partner and Head of Milbank’s Global Infrastructure practice John Franchini and Global Corporate/M&A partner Daniel Tyrrell with associates Charlie Rosenthal, Christina (Sonageri) Cannon, Claire McGuinness and Michaela Fleischer. The team also included Tax partners Max Goodman and Drew Batkin and associate Rita Halabi; Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance partner Jenna McGrath and associate Ryan Yde; Global Risk & National Security partner John Beahn and associates Clayton Melton and Edward Rastgoo; Head of Milbank’s Antitrust practice Adam Di Vincenzo; Real Estate special counsel David Groman and associate Adam Mikell; and Environmental partner Thomas Goslin and associate Allison Sloto.
