Investment firms Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (HASI) and KKR have joined forces to initially invest up to $1bn each in US clean energy assets.

The firms are investing up to $2bn through CarbonCount Holdings 1 (CCH1), the newly created partnership which will invest in ”climate positive projects” and will be seeded with assets representing approximately 10% of the total committed amounts.

NYSE-listed HASI will source the investments for and manage CCH1. The investments will be consistent with HASI’s existing investment strategy which is focused on behind-the-metre, grid-connected, renewable natural gas and transport projects.

Jeffrey A Lipson, president and CEO of HASI, said: “Our strategic partnership with KKR perfectly aligns with our Climate Clients Assets strategy, enabling us to capitalise on our ambitious pipeline of opportunities and scale our business.

“We are excited to collaborate with the KKR team, who share our commitment to accelerating the energy transition and whose interest in the relationship serves as a testament to HASI’s history of success.”

Marc Pangburn, CFO of HASI, said: “CCH1 represents a significant milestone in our objective to migrate to a more capital light model and reduce reliance on public equity markets for growth. “This transaction further increases the resilient, non-cyclical nature of our business.”

Cecilio Velasco, MD on KKR’s infrastructure team, said: “HASI has built an impressive portfolio of sustainable infrastructure projects through strategic partnerships and we believe their pipeline of future opportunities is highly complementary to KKR’s existing clean energy investing strategy,”

To read the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here