Blackstone’s energy-focused private equity business is investing an unspecified sum to acquire a majority stake in US engineering and consulting firm Westwood Professional Services from Endurance Partners.
Blackstone Energy Transition Partners has agreed to take the stake alongside Westwood’s management team and employee shareholders retaining a minority interest.
Westwood offers front-end engineering design services for renewable-energy projects, power grid upgrades and public and private infrastructure developments across the US.
In a joint statement, Darius Sepassi, senior MD, and Mitchell Nimocks, an MD at Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, said: “Westwood provides crucial expertise and resources to support the increasing adoption of renewables and investment in power systems throughout the US and is well positioned to continue building upon its impressive growth.
“We look forward to combining the power of Blackstone’s global scale and resources with Westwood’s talent to expand and enhance its valued partnerships with new and existing clients across the renewables, power, land development and public infrastructure value chains.”
David Foley, the global head of Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, said: “Our partnership with the exceptional Westwood management team builds upon our recent energy transition investments including Trystar and Sediver, providing critical services and equipment needed to facilitate the transition to more reliable, affordable and cleaner energy.
“With the signing of this investment, Blackstone Energy Transition Partners will have committed approximately $1.3bn (€1.2bn) in control-oriented equity investments in the energy transition since June.”
Bryan Powell, CEO of Westwood, said the new partnership with Blackstone positions Westwood to continue expanding its capabilities in its “key end markets of renewable energy, power, land development, and public infrastructure, which are each poised to benefit from long-term growth tailwinds”.
In a joint statement, Gerald Parsky, chairman of Endurance, and Larry Bossidy, chairman of Westwood, said: “Westwood is an established leader in multi-disciplined professional services for the AEC industry, and we are pleased to have invested in and partnered with this management team, who have built a business that is poised to flourish in their new partnership.”
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