Hudson Capital Nears $1B Target For Clean Energy Fund

Firm: Hudson Capital Management

Fund: Hudson Clean Energy Partners LP

Target: $1 billion

Amount Raised To Date: $800+ Million

Hardcap: $3 billion

Placement Agents: C.P. Eaton Partners LLC; Credit Suisse Securities

Hudson Capital Management’s renewable energy fund is almost fully charged.

Hudson Clean Energy Partners LP and its affiliated offshore and parallel investment vehicles have collected more than $800 million in commitments from limited partners and are edging in on their aggregate $1 billion target, a source close to the situation told Buyouts.

The Teaneck, N.J.-based firm also has a meaningful cache of expected commitments lined up that is expected to nudge it even closer to its fundraising goal, the source added.

With the new fund, Hudson Capital wants to take advantage of the movement away from fossil fuels toward clean energy that has emerged as a result of environmental and political issues surrounding traditional energy generation. The firm’s thesis is that capital requirements for the emerging clean energy industry have opened doors to significant investment opportunities for both control and minority private equity plays.

C.P. Eaton Partners LLC and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC are serving as placement agents for Hudson Clean Energy Partners, which, according to a regulatory filing, has a $5 million minimum investment limit that can be waived at the general partner’s discretion.

The aggregated hard-cap for Hudson Clean Energy Partners and it affiliated parallel and offshore funds is $3 billion, said the source.

Hudson Capital was founded by Managing Partner Neil Auerbach in 2006. Prior to launching the new firm, Aurebach was a partner at Goldman Sachs, where he co-founded the financial giant’s U.S. alternative energy investment business.

Although the Hudson Capital will generally seek control-stake transactions, it is also willing to take part in minority-stake and venture capital plays in the relatively nascent clean energy industry. Geographically, the firm is comfortable investing in the United States through its New Jersey office, or Europe, where it has an office located in London.

Hudson Clean Energy Partners is already steward to five portfolio companies, each of which was acquired in 2008. Two of the investments—CaliSolar and SoloPower Inc.—are in what the source refers to as the “solar value chain” market, which includes businesses that produce low-cost solar cells. Other portfolio companies include Element Power, a London-based wind and solar power producer; Recurrent Energy, a developer and owner of solar photovoltaic projects; and Wind to Power Systems, a Madrid-based maker of devices that allow wind turbines to maintain their connections to power grids.