Simpson Thacher is representing affiliates of BlackRock’s Global Renewable Power Fund IV (“GRP”) in connection with a $500 million convertible preferred equity investment commitment to Recurrent Energy B.V. (“Recurrent Energy”), a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ). GRP’s investment will represent up to 20% of the outstanding fully diluted shares of Recurrent Energy on an as-converted basis. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and certain terms and conditions in accordance with the relevant transaction agreements.
Recurrent Energy is one of the world’s largest and most geographically diversified utility-scale solar and energy project storage development platforms, having originated, developed, financed, and built around 9 GWp of solar and 3 GWh of battery storage power plants across six continents since 2009. BlackRock’s investment will provide Recurrent Energy with additional capital to grow its project development pipeline while executing its strategy to transition from a pure developer to a developer plus long-term owner and operator in select markets including the U.S. and Europe.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Eli Hunt, Jacqui N. Bogucki, Eilidh Reid and Benjamin Blinken (M&A); Sunny Cheong, Hui Lin and Sam Q. Zhu (Capital Markets); Matthew P. Einbinder, Amy Beller and Tina Zheng (Projects, Banking and Credit); William J. Smolinski, Marcy G. Geller and Lina Pan (Tax); Larry Moss, Jeffrey R. Penn and Meredith T. Brenton (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits); Lori Lesser and Corina Holland (Intellectual Property); Michael Isby and Timothy Mulvihill (Environmental); Peter Guryan, Kelly Karapetyan, James A. Goldfeier and Jamie Logie (Antitrust); Dennis J. Loiacono (Real Estate); and Steven R. DeLott (Insurance).