NEW YORK, March 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Avenue Capital Group (“Avenue”), a global investment firm, today announced that it has agreed to sell a portfolio of energy transition-focused assets in California from the Avenue Golden Continuation Fund, L.P. (“Avenue Golden Fund”), a fund managed by Avenue and operated by Middle River Power (“Middle River”), to Partners Group at a $2.2 billion enterprise value. Avenue formed Middle River in 2016 to operate and manage Avenue’s investments in the power sector. The platform has grown over the years and today stands as a leading energy transition-focused independent power producer in the U.S.
The Avenue Golden Fund’s portfolio being sold to Partners Group include 11 critical natural gas-fired power plants, including nine simple-cycle peaking facilities and two combined-cycle gas turbine plants. The assets are operated by Middle River which has pioneered a strategy where it develops on-site battery energy storage systems (“BESS”) at its existing gas-fired power plants to create Hybrid Energy Centers. The BESS, which are charged by surplus renewable energy from the grid, store energy that can be discharged when needed, reducing the overall carbon footprint of the peakers while enhancing reliability. The creation of these Hybrid Energy Centers has enabled Middle River to unlock longer-term contracts of up to 15 years with utilities. Middle River, which is included in the sale, also provides asset management services to third party owners of power plants totaling around 4.8 GWs of capacity outside of California.
Craig Hart, Senior Portfolio Manager, Avenue Golden Fund, said: “We have been pleased to work with Middle River over the last nine years to develop a purpose-built energy transition business that delivers reliable, affordable, and lower carbon power to support the ongoing, multi-decade energy transition. Over this time, we have repositioned the business from a collection of largely-merchant thermal assets to a highly-contracted energy transition business that is poised for future growth. We wish the Middle River team continued success with Partners Group, as we at Avenue look forward to continuing to optimize and transition our existing and future power investments in the rapidly evolving U.S. power markets.”
Marc Lasry, Co-Founder and CEO of Avenue Capital Group, said, “The realization of our Avenue Golden Fund – Middle River investment represents a landmark transaction for the Avenue Energy team and a strong outcome for our fund investors. We entered California in 2016 with the view that the core natural gas-fired generating fleet was fundamental to achieving the state’s ambitious carbon goals. Our thesis then was the same as it is now: namely, that properly positioned, well-maintained natural gas-fired power plants would remain grid-critical throughout the energy transition.”
Guggenheim Securities and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisors on the transaction for Avenue and Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel.
About Avenue Capital Group Avenue Capital Group is a global investment firm focused primarily on making opportunistic credit and other special situations investments across the United States, Europe and Asia. Avenue, founded in 1995 by Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner, draws on the skills and experience of over 60 investment professionals, and more than 180 employees worldwide operating from its headquarters in New York and offices in Dublin, London, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Singapore, Sydney, Abu Dhabi and Silicon Valley. Avenue has assets under management over $11 billion.
Avenue Capital Group contact: Todd Fogarty, Kekst CNC, [email protected]
SOURCE Avenue Capital Group