Hull Street Energy, LLC announced today that it has agreed to purchase nine hydroelectric power facilities in New Hampshire from Eversource through a special purpose affiliate. The $83 million transaction is expected to close by late December or early 2018, subject to approval by the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC), FERC, and other required approvals.
The hydroelectric assets purchase agreement with Hull Street Energy consists of nine facilities with approximately 68.2 MW of power generation capacity. The plants are located in Manchester, Bristol, West Stewartstown, Franklin, Bow, Gorham, Hooksett, Hillsborough and Berlin, New Hampshire.
Hull Street Energy, a private equity firm that invests in power generation assets and related businesses, plans to acquire the facilities as part of its strategy to build a significant presence in the North American power sector. Upon completion of this transaction, Hull Street Energy affiliates will own approximately 531 MW of power generation assets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Western United States. Earlier this year the firm acquired five hydroelectric facilities in Massachusetts that had once been owned by Eversource's predecessor, Northeast Utilities. With the addition of the New Hampshire Eversource fleet, Hull Street Energy's hydroelectric plant portfolio will exceed 85 MW.
"The acquisition of the Eversource hydroelectric fleet is an important step in enhancing our presence in the northeast renewable power sector," said Sarah Wright, Managing Partner at Hull Street Energy. "We look forward to partnering with the experienced workforce and other regional stakeholders as we build a leading regional renewable generation business and supply a variety of products to regional electricity customers."
The sale of the hydroelectric plants was part of an agreement between Eversource and other parties to implement New Hampshire's Electric Restructuring Law, with a goal of achieving a competitive electric energy marketplace. The transaction was conducted via an auction process established by the NHPUC and managed by J.P. Morgan.
Manatt Phelps and Phillips, LLP and Hogan Lovells acted as legal counsel to Hull Street Energy on the transaction.
About Hull Street Energy, LLC
Hull Street Energy is a private equity firm that acquires, optimizes and grows middle market power businesses through the application of industry-leading risk management, efficiency enhancements and commodity contract structuring. Hull Street Energy was established by a team with extensive, long-standing expertise in the power industry. They bring to the firm's investments a unique combination of deep technical and commercial knowledge of the electricity industry, and top-tier financial investment expertise. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the team leverages its decades of experience and unique knowledge of North American electricity infrastructure, including fuel inputs, renewable and fossil powered generation assets, transmission and distribution systems, and electricity demand-side businesses to build value for its investors and stakeholders. For further information about Hull Street Energy, please see http://www.hullstreetenergy.com.
