General Atlantic Fund to Buy Stake in Green Investor SDCL

(Bloomberg) -- General Atlantic’s climate growth fund is acquiring a minority stake in Sustainable Development Capital LLC, a fund manager focused on energy efficiency and decarbonisation.

General Atlantic will buy 24.9% of SDCL through its BeyondNetZero fund, which focuses on the climate and energy sectors, according to a statement on Tuesday confirming an earlier Bloomberg report. The deal involves an investment of up to $50 million including earn-out, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Following the investment, BeyondNetZero Managing Director Michael Bevan will join SDCL’s board of directors, the statement said. General Atlantic will partner with SDCL to support the growth of the company, which currently has $2.5 billion of assets under management.

Global investment firms have been moving billions of dollars into companies and technologies supporting the energy transition. Firms including KKR & Co., Blackstone Inc. and Brookfield Corp. have all recently announced investments.

General Atlantic, best known for successful investments in tech companies including Facebook and Uber Technologies Inc., has identified climate investing as one of its core businesses. Besides portfolio investments, General Atlantic agreed earlier this year to buy London-based private equity firm Actis, broadening its footprint in sustainable infrastructure investment.

SDCL, based in London and with offices in New York, Greenwich, Dublin, Hong Kong and Singapore, was founded by Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Maxwell and specializes in energy efficiency technologies. The firm develops and invests in infrastructure assets that reduce carbon emission for customers including the UK’s National Health Service and Tesco Plc.

(Updates with deal confirmation.)

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