NOVA Infrastructure is a private equity firm that invests in and manages mid-sized infrastructure assets across North America, specifically targeting the environmental services, transportation, energy transition, and communications sectors. To learn more, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Founder and Managing Partner Chris Beall and Founder and Partner Allison Kingsley.
Background Of Chris Beall And Allison Kingsley
Could you tell me more about your background?
A somewhat odd and unknown fact is that we actually went to high school together in Oklahoma before Chris became an engineer and Allison a political economist. We ended up working together more than 25 years ago when we each took our first Wall Street job. For both of us, our entire careers have been focused on infrastructure investing, in some capacity, and we’ve grown up alongside the asset class. This kind of history and long-standing infrastructure experience has given us an incredibly strong foundation to dig into sectors and companies to ensure we’re making creative, smart investments that ultimately create value for our LPs.
Evolution Of The Firm’s Thesis
How has your firm’s thesis evolved over time?
While we are responsive to market changes, our fundamentals haven’t changed since NOVA’s inception. From Day 1, we have been focused on downside-protected opportunities in the mid-market and have sought to pair the best downside protection features of the infrastructure asset class with operationally-focused upside-generating strategies to create value.
We believe we have a strong combination of sourcing and evaluating investments that we combine with a hands-on approach to manage our investments, and we will continue to faithfully execute this strategy. We closed our $565 million NOVA Fund I in July 2022 – from which we’ve already achieved two successful exits. We more than doubled this in NOVA Fund II, which closed in March, raising over $1.4 billion – a strong sign from our investors in the confidence they have in our strategy and thesis.
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for your firm so far?
Our annual meeting is always a highlight and provides a moment for us to see the ecosystem of talent that we’ve built between our team at NOVA and our portfolio companies – as well as the like-minded investors that partner with and trust us.
When you are building a fund as an independent manager, the days can be very long, but moments like these are a reminder that the years go by fast, and we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished.
But we would be remiss if we didn’t highlight our successful exits. Seeing the conclusion of the full lifecycle for an investment is both exhilarating and satisfying.
Significant Milestones
What have been some of your firm’s most significant milestones?
We raised two funds in incredibly challenging, though different, environments. We raised Fund I during COVID and had to convince investors to take a shot on first-time independent managers during a time of historic unpredictability – and do it all over Zoom.
We raised Fund II during what’s been widely noted as an incredibly capital-constrained landscape. While this time it no longer had to be done solely over Zoom, we had to be innovative and persistent to reach the high fund target we set – and we exceeded it.
Investment Success Stories
Would you like to share any specific investment success stories?
Our first two exits from NOVA Fund I are major milestones that we are especially proud of.
NOVA’s first exit was Integrated Waste Solutions Group’s assets in Central Texas, which we sold to Republic Services in December 2023. The vertically integrated solid waste platform was founded in 2017 and we invested in the company in 2020. This business was founded by NOVA’s Founder Chris Beall and Senior Adviser Charlie Appleby who have decades of relationships and industry experience, which is a hallmark of NOVA’s strategy. We hope to replicate this success in Fund II.
Three and a half years after our initial investment, we sold our portfolio company, Bold Ocean, to J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives’ Global Transportation Group in July 2024. Bold Ocean is a leading U.S. Flag operator serving the critical transportation and logistics needs of diverse U.S. government agencies. Through NOVA’s support and the incredibly talented Bold Ocean team, we transformed the business, delivered for the U.S. government, and significantly expanded Bold Ocean’s market contracts and operating footprint, including into critical areas of need, such as the transportation of humanitarian food aid.
Industry Focus
What are some of the industries that your firm is focused on?
NOVA is focused on investing in companies within environmental services, transportation, energy, energy transition, and digital infrastructure sectors, primarily in North America.
Differentiation
What differentiates your firm from other firms?
We are proud of the culture that we’ve built at NOVA that values deal creativity, intellectual curiosity, and an entrepreneurial spirit with a hunger to deliver for our LPs.
We typically invest in companies that are somewhere between $5-30 million in EBITDA, so at that size, we are often working with founders and the company’s original executive team. As founders ourselves, we understand the hard work and dedication that goes into building something from scratch. As a result, we relate differently to our portfolio companies and work to truly build a partnership.
Future Firm Goals
What are some of your firm’s future goals?
We are hard at work deploying Fund II and looking for exit opportunities for several of our Fund I investments. We take the commitments we made to our LPs seriously, and we are motivated to relentlessly produce results and deliver on Alpha for our LPs. Without a doubt, that is our North Star.
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss?
We have already made two platform investments from Fund II to date, and we are incredibly excited about the investments – and exits – on the horizon for NOVA. We continue to originate Niche Opportunities in Value-Add infrastructure (NOVA Infrastructure!) and to live up to our founding principles.
