Vistra announced that it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire seven modern natural gas generation facilities, totaling approximately 2,600 MW of capacity, from Lotus Infrastructure Partners, as part of $1.9 billion deal.
The deal includes five combined cycle gas turbine facilities and two combustion turbine facilities located across PJM, New England, New York, and California, further geographically diversifying Vistra’s natural gas fleet. And the deal is expected to expand Vistra’s footprint in key competitive markets and serve growing power demand, while also exceeding its levered return targets.
Deal details: Vistra is acquiring these assets for $1.9 billion or approximately $743/kW, subject to certain net working capital adjustments. And the acquisition is expected to deliver immediate benefits to Vistra shareholders, including Ongoing Operations AFCFbG1 per share accretion.
Vistra plans to fund the deal with the assumption of an existing term loan from Lotus and cash on hand.
Advisors: Barclays and Moelis & Company are serving as financial advisors, and Latham & Watkins and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are serving as legal advisors, to Vistra. And Lazard is serving as exclusive financial advisor, and King & Spalding and Eversheds Sutherland are serving as legal advisors, to Lotus Infrastructure Partners.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are excited to announce another opportunistic expansion of our generation footprint in some of our key competitive markets. We believe natural gas fired generation will continue to play an ever-increasing role in the reliability, affordability, and flexibility of U.S. power grids for years to come. The addition of this attractive portfolio of combined cycle and peaking assets allows Vistra to serve growing power demand while exceeding our mid-teens levered return target.”
“Importantly, as our experienced team has demonstrated previously with the acquisitions of Dynegy and Energy Harbor, successfully integrating fleets of generation assets is a core competency of our company. We look forward to closing the transaction and welcoming new team members to the Vistra family.”
Vistra President and CEO Jim Burke
**“We are pleased to have reached an agreement to sell this gas plant portfolio to a proven operator like Vistra. The Lotus team has acquired, developed, and operated this portfolio of high-quality assets for many years, which has helped us deliver this win-win transaction for our investors.”
Himanshu Saxena, Chairman and CEO of Lotus Infrastructure Partners
