On Tuesday, Miami-headquartered global private equity infrastructure investor I Squared Capital, which manages more than $30 billion in client assets across energy, utilities, digital infrastructure, transport and social infrastructure funds, announced that it has launched its own renewable energy platform. The platform, Cube Green Energy will develop, re-power, construct, and operate wind and solar farms, and invest in deploying associated emerging technologies such as battery storage and green hydrogen.
Per a statement from I Squared Capital, Cube Green Energy will initially focus on mature renewables markets in continental Europe (particularly Germany) that it says are at the forefront of the energy transition.
Cube Green Energy will be led by former senior executives from GE Energy Financial Services (GE EFS), the energy investment arm of General Electric, a team with over 70 years combined global power markets experience including more than 40 years in renewable energy.
Incoming Cube Green Energy CEO Raghuveer Kurada has held various leadership roles at GE EFS, including successfully closing and managing over $10 billion of value-accretive investments globally as Head of Global Deal Execution. Most recently, he was responsible for raising over $6 billion in third-party equity and debt for GE projects as Head of Global Capital Advisory.
Other core management team members include Sharad Jain, Niko Meissner, and Hussain Shalchi. Sharad Jain has over 25 years and 15+ GW of global energy sector investment experience and deep domain knowledge in asset investment, management and financial structuring. Niko Meissner has more than 15 years of renewables development experience with GE Power, GE EFS, Danish wind giant Vestas and, most recently, Aquila Capital, where he managed the development of over 6 GW of power generation capacity. According to I Squared, Meissner will be instrumental in establishing Cube Green Energy’s operations in Germany, which will be one of the largest target markets. Hussain Shalchi has held various senior positions in the energy sector including acting as Managing Director and Global Counsel at GE EFS and, most recently, as Head of Strategic Joint Venture at another Danish wind developer, Ørsted.
“I Squared Capital has invested over $6.5 billion in transition energy, including $4 billion in 12 renewable energy companies globally since 2014, and we are continuing that strategy with a world-class management team that brings deep experience, industry knowledge and on the ground presence to address an unmet market demand,” said I Square Capital Managing Partner Gautam Bhandaril. “Using our platform building strategy, we look to initially commit up to $500 million over the coming years to build Cube Green Energy into a leading renewables company that can help enable Europe’s transition to a zero-carbon economy.”
“Companies and governments must innovate to replace base load power with renewables to meet ambitious climate targets,” said CEO Kurada. “With a mandate to invest in more efficient and emerging technologies and sector expertise across the project cycle, Cube Green Energy and I Squared Capital are well placed to enable the Renewables 2.0 transition in Continental Europe and beyond.”
