The private equity owners of the Kleen Energy Power plant in Middletown, Connecticut, where an explosion over the weekend left five workers dead had high hopes. The facility, which had been scheduled to come on line this fall, was supposed to lower rates in Connecticut, where residents pay more for electricity than just about anywhere in the US.

The plant’s primary investor is Energy Investors Funds, a Boston-based private equity firm that invests in power plants around the nation. Energy Investors Funds has said little about the explosion, beyond a short statement expressing sympathy for the families of those killed in the blast.

Here is the 411 on Energy Investors Funds and its Kleen Energy Power facility.

Project Equity: $361 million, 80% supplied by Energy Investors Funds

Debt: $985 million in syndicated loans

Lead Underwriter: Goldman Sachs

Distinction: “North American Single Asset Power Deal of the Year 2008,” according to Project Finance Magazine

Co-investor: Philip Armetta, a Connecticut developer who bought the site in the late 1990s. Armetta was sentenced to three months in prison in 2007 after being indicted in a federal investigation of organized crime’s involvement in the state’s trash hauling business.

Opponent to Project: Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who said state residents have no assurances that the plant would provide power at cheaper rates.

Other interesting EIF project: “Neptune line” a 65-mile-long Neptune electrical transmission line, which includes 51 miles installed under the Atlantic Ocean, extending from Sayreville, New Jersey to a Levittown, New York. Starwood Capital also invested in the project.

Profits: EIF aims for returns of 15% to 18% on some of its energy funds.

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The 411 on the Kleen Power Plant and its PE Investor
The 411 on the Kleen Power Plant and its PE Investor

         

The 411 on the Kleen Power Plant and its PE Investor
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