Energy Capital Partners Management, LP (ECP) is an American investment firm headquartered in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is the northernmost City (New Jersey), city of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the New York metropolitan area. Situated on a ridge in north Jersey, northern–central Jersey, centra ...

. It focuses on investments in the energy sector. The firm has additional offices in New York City, Houston, San Diego, Fort Lauderdale and Seoul. In August 2024, ECP merged with Bridgepoint Group to form a private assets investment platform.

Background

ECP was founded in April 2005 by Doug Kimmelman, Thomas Lane and Scott Helm. The three were previously senior executives at

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

in its

investment banking Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...

division. ECP focuses in investments in power generation, renewable energy and energy storage assets. It was originally based in

Short Hills, New Jersey Short Hills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) situated within Millburn, in Essex County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey, and part of the New York metropolitan area. The community is a commuter town for resi ...

and later moved its headquarters to Summit.

History

In January 2007, ECP raised $2.25 billion for its debut fund, Energy Capital Partners I. At the time it was one of the largest debut funds ever raised. In September 2009, ECP formed Summit Midstream Partners, a platform company to invest in North American gas infrastructure. In September 2012, Summit Midstream Partners held an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

and in September 2015, ECP was seeking buyers for its ownership stake. Later on ECP exited its ownership of Summit Midstream Partners. In July 2011, it was reported that

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

was in talks to acquire ECP. It came as a surprise, due to Carlyle's longstanding relationship with

Riverstone Holdings Riverstone Holdings is a multinational corporation, multinational private equity firm based in New York City focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital, and credit (finance), credit investments in the energy industry and electrical power industry ...

where the two had worked on multiple deals together. However, in the end the deal did not proceed. In August 2017, Dyal Capital acquired a

minority interest In accounting, minority interest (or non-controlling interest) is the portion of a subsidiary corporation's stock that is not owned by the parent corporation. The magnitude of the minority interest in the subsidiary company is generally less than ...

of less than 20% in ECP for below $500 million. The transaction valued ECP at less than $2.5 billion at the time. The cash injection gave ECP a financial cushion for more volatile periods that may not be favorable to fundraising. Some of it was used to pay retention bonuses to its employees as well as buying out the ownership equity of Lane. In November 2022, it was reported that Bridgepoint Group was in talks to acquire ECP for $1 billion. It was speculated that the acquisition would allow ECP to establish a presence in Europe. On September 6, 2023, it was announced that both sides agreed to the deal involving cash and stock which would close within four to six months. In August 2024, ECP merged with Bridgepoint Group to form a private assets investment platform. In June 2023, ECP established ECP ForeStar, a $2.5 billion credit strategy that focuses on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

. ECP recruited former leaders of

Global Infrastructure Partners Global Infrastructure Partners, LLC (GIP) is an American infrastructure investment fund making equity and selected debt investments across markets worldwide. GIP's main headquarters are located in New York City and its equity investments are bas ...

' credit business to lead the venture. In October 2024, ECP and

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

formed a partnership to invest a combined $50 billion in

data center A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for busines ...

and

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stora ...

projects to support the development of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

. ECP formed a further $25 billion partnership with ADQ in March 2025 to invest in U.S. power generation and energy infrastructure for data centers and AI projects. The partnership aims to provide 25GW of new power capacity.

Acquisitions

In 2007, ECP acquired a small stake in Energy Future Holdings as part of an investor consortium buyout led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and

TPG Inc. TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, stock, public equity, and debt investments. The f ...

for $44 billion. As of December 2022, it remained the largest

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

in history. In 2016, ECP invested in Sunnova Energy Corp. In August 2017, ECP led an investor consortium that included

Access Industries Access Industries, Inc. is a United States–based privately held multinational investment company which was founded in 1986 by businessman Leonard "Len" Blavatnik. Access Industries' focus is in seven sectors: biotechnology, entertainment, ext ...

and

CPP Investment Board The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB; ), operating as CPP Investments (), is a Canadian Crown corporation established by way of the 1997 ''Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act'' to oversee and invest the funds contributed to and h ...

to acquire Calpine and take it private for $5.6 billion. In January 2025, ECP announced the sale of Calpine to

Constellation Energy Constellation Energy Corporation is an American energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across the conti ...

for $26.6 billion, the largest private equity exit in the power and utility sector in two decades. In 2022, ECP bought the UK waste management firm

Biffa Biffa Limited is a waste management company headquartered in High Wycombe, England. It provides collection, landfill, recycling and special waste services to local authorities and industrial and commercial clients in the United Kingdom. , it wa ...

for $1.4 billion. The transaction was completed in January 2023 and Biffa was delisted from the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. In January 2023, it was reported that ECP was working with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank to establish a Japan

decarbonization Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include conserving energy and replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sour ...

fund. In May 2024, ECP finalized the acquisition of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, which owns renewable energy projects worldwide. The $2.56 billion transaction helped Algonquin Power and Utilities reduce debt and revamp its capital structure. In December 2024, Orsted divested its 50% equity stake in three US projects to ECP.

Regulatory fines

In June 2022, ECP agreed to pay a $1 million fine to the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

for allegedly requiring some investors to pay more than their share of fund expenses without getting their approval back in 2017. ECP had also repaid investors more than $3.3 million.

References

External links

* {{authority control 2005 establishments in New Jersey Companies based in Union County, New Jersey Financial services companies established in 2005 Investment management companies of the United States Private equity firms of the United States Summit, New Jersey 2024 mergers and acquisitions