Nautilus Solar Energy (“Nautilus”) has acquired a 31.5 MW portfolio of operating solar project assets from Virgo Investment Group (“Virgo”). The portfolio of community solar and large C+I projects spans seven states, from California to Rhode Island, and serves customers such as hospitals, housing authorities, a community college, a regulated utility and residential customers under long-term power purchase agreements. The solar projects were placed into operation between 2016 and 2019. Nautilus originally developed, financed and managed the projects in partnership with Virgo and will continue to operate them as part of Nautilus’s own expanding portfolio under ownership.
“Nautilus is delighted to be able to continue working with the projects’ customers, SREC purchasers, landowners and other project counterparties. The acquisition of the Virgo Helios I portfolio reinforces Nautilus’s position as a long-term owner of solar assets,” said Laura Stern, co-CEO of Nautilus Solar. “With its geographic diversity and mix of customers, this portfolio is an excellent addition to our growing base of projects under ownership.”
Eli Aheto, Partner at Virgo Investment Group, notes, “This sale of our Virgo Helios I portfolio completes the 2019 sale of Nautilus Solar to Power Energy Corporation. Our thesis when we were introduced to the Nautilus team by Virgo Senior Advisor & Operating.
Partner Perry Cole was that the community solar market would provide a unique opportunity to own attractive projects and drive substantial growth of the distributed generation solar market. We have enjoyed a highly successful partnership with the Nautilus team and are excited to see them scale their leadership in the community solar market and bring low cost solar energy to hundreds of thousands of additional consumers and businesses.”
The seller and buyer were advised and represented by Fifth 3rd Bank and Morrison & Foerster, and National Bank Financial and Rath, Young and Pignatelli, respectively.
About Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC
Founded in 2006, Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC headquartered in Summit, N.J., is a leading national solar acquisition, development and asset management company. Nautilus focuses on acquiring, developing, executing and managing distributed and utility-scale generation solar projects throughout North America. Over its 12-year history, Nautilus has invested over $1 billion in solar projects located throughout the United States and Canada. Nautilus is owned by Power Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, a diversified management and holding company (TSX:POW). Join Nautilus on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and/or visit www.nautilussolar.com for more information.
About Virgo Investment Group
Founded in 2009, Virgo is a thematic investor with the mission of building meaningful businesses. Virgo partners with Founder-led or Family-owned businesses where both existing owners and management have a material equity stake in the business. Virgo targets companies undergoing industry or company-specific change, which are executing on an identified inflection point in value. Virgo has flexible capital that allows the Firm to provide differentiated solutions. Virgo is an actively engaged investor, driving value-add initiatives post-investment via a focus on human capital transformation, business process enhancement, and technology implementation through the Firm’s Spica Alpha Unit. The Firm has invested over $1.2 billion, completing 58 investments to date.