Blackstone Invests $200 Million in Australian Energy Transition Platform Symphony Infrastructure Partners
![](https://esg-investing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Blackstone2-1-kWqmAi-978x623.jpeg)
Australian energy transition platform Symphony Infrastructure Partners announced today that it has raised A$488 million (USD$329 million) in a Series A financing round including A$300 million (USD$202 million) from lead investor Blackstone, with proceeds aimed at accelerating the company’s growth and completing a series of five pending acquisitions.
Founded in 2022, Symphony develops, owns, and operates specialized infrastructure services critical to Australia’s energy transition, providing an end-to-end integrated solution for major transmission infrastructure and grid connection services. The company is orchestrating and scaling a portfolio of investments and initiatives in Australia’s power grid to add market capacity, eliminate bottlenecks, and accelerate the country’s renewable infrastructure rollout.
The minority investment from Blackstone came from funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities. The transaction marks the latest in a series of energy transition-focused investments for Blackstone, which has stated that it sees an opportunity to invest an estimated $100 billion in energy transition and climate change solutions projects over the next decade. Earlier in July the company acquired power solutions provide Trystar, and in 2023 it invested $1.5 billion to acquire a renewable energy portfolio from AEP alongside CDPQ and Invenergy.
Steven Butler, Group Chief Executive Officer of Symphony, said:
“We found strong alignment with Blackstone on understanding the scale, complexity and opportunity of the energy transition. We are delighted to be partnering with a world-class investor of Blackstone’s scale and expertise to fund our continued growth.”
Blackstone has made several large investments in Australia’s energy transition including a $400 million investment in Xpansiv, an infrastructure platform for global carbon and environmentalEnvironmental criteria consider how a company performs as a steward of nature. More commodities and renewable energy credits, as well as Energy Exemplar, a global provider of energy market simulation software.
Daniel Kearns, Managing Director at Blackstone, said:
“The energy transition is a major investment theme for our firm both globally and in Australia. Australia is at the beginning of its energy transition journey, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with what is a market-leading platform in Symphony.”
The financing round was also supported by a $188 million senior debt facility from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
CBA General Manager Corporate Finance Jade Astbury said:
“We are delighted to support Symphony’s next phase of growth. Accelerating the energy transition and scaling up domestic renewables capability and capacity is integral to our transition to a sustainable economy. Symphony has demonstrated leadership and vision and this transaction is a fantastic example of how financing private enterprise is helping capture opportunities in greening the grid.”