Middle market growth infrastructure investor Tiger Infrastructure Partners has acquired fully integrated microgrid and energy-as-a-service company Unison Energy LLC from its existing shareholders, the investor confirmed to Infralogic.

The Greenwich, Connecticut-based platform, which provides behind-the-meter microgrid solutions including comprehensive power, heating, and cooling solutions to a wide array of end-markets in North America, will be Tiger’s ninth and final investment from Tiger Infrastructure Partners Fund III. The company’s third fund hit its USD 1.25bn hard cap in April 2022 raising USD 500m over its original target of USD 750m from over 30 LPs.

Tiger is acquiring Unison from existing shareholders American Infrastructure Funds, LLC and Hunt Companies, Inc. American Infrastructure Funds acquired a controlling interest in Unison and committed up to USD 150m of equity capital, alongside minority investor Hunt Companies, in September 2018.

The acquisition of Unison expands Tiger’s portfolio of investments in energy transition, one of the firm’s three sectors of focus alongside transportation and digital infrastructure, CEO and CIO Emil Henry Jr. said in a statement. “Our investment in Unison is a classic Tiger investment where our growth capital will enable the significant expansion of an institutional-quality energy transition business in North America. It represents another proprietary Tiger transaction where an entrepreneur-led platform has already built an initial portfolio of operating assets under long-term contracts with high-quality counterparties,” Henry said.

“We believe the company is poised to benefit from profound tailwinds driven by widespread increasing emphasis on energy resiliency. We intend to expand the current portfolio from around 26 MW of installed microgrid capacity today to a target capacity multiples of that in the not-too-distant future,” he said, adding that Tiger sees similarities with its Fund II investment in battery storage business Zenobe, where the asset portfolio grew from 14 MW of operating capacity at the time Tiger invested in October 2019 to 1.6 GW of capacity when the investor exited it last year to a consortium led by KKR.

Microgrids provide an attractive Investment thesis

Unison owns and operates close to 30 projects across essential end-markets including hospitals, data centers, hospitality, food and beverage, biofuels, and other industrials. The portfolio is underpinned by long-term, fixed-price contracts with high-credit quality counterparties and no commodity exposure, focusing on markets with resiliency challenges and/or elevated power prices across the Northeast, Southwest and Midwest.

Each Unison Energy solution is bespoke for customers and contemplates different layouts, connectivity with local utilities, and is tailored to corporate objectives, according to the company’s website. The company offers a range of solutions, starting with baseload cogeneration/CHP, solar and battery storage, EV charging, and the possibility to apply new technologies such as carbon capture or implement zero-carbon biogas, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen solutions as they become available. The business operates on long-term contracts of up to 20 years and its pipeline of projects in development will see Unison deploy ever larger facilities.

In 2023, Unison Energy launched a sale process with Nomura Greentech. The investment bank acted as the sole financial advisor to Unison Energy on the sale to Tiger. 

“Tiger has deep experience in energy transition, experience with similar business models and track record of partnering with teams to build and scale platforms,” Unison Co-Founder and Co-CEO Tim Lukes remarked. “As a result, we determined that Tiger would be the ideal partner. We have an actionable pipeline of projects and we are excited to provide creative solutions to our customers with the support of Tiger.”

Milbank acted as legal advisor to Tiger on the transaction.

The New York-based investor is in the market fundraising for Tiger Infrastructure Fund IV, with a USD 2bn target for the vehicle, Infralogic has reported.

A Tiger spokesperson declined to comment on fundraising matters.