Neos Partners Raises $1.37 Billion for Clean-Energy and Data Center Investments
The Del Mar-based private equity firm closed its second fund in three months
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San Diego-based Neos Partners, a private equity firm investing in companies in the energy and critical infrastructure sectors, has closed its second fund at $1.37 billion.
Despite a difficult fundraising market for emerging asset firms, the firm was able to secure the fresh capital from private investors and institutional investors in about three months, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Neos Partners is backed by some of the largest U.S. endowments including the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and Yale University. It also received commitments from investment managers, family offices, foundations such as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, among other institutional investors.
"We are grateful for the strong support from our institutional investors. We are also proud of the backing from our industry network who anchored our first fund and today has grown to over 100 founders, executives, and advisors who have committed more than $260 million to our funds," said Peter Jonna, Founder and Managing Partner at Neos Partner.
“We believe this is a very favorable time to invest in our target markets. We look forward to leveraging our industry network and sector focus to continue partnering with founders and executives to drive step-change growth in their businesses,” Jonna stated in a press release.
High Level Overview
Founded in 2022, Neos Partners is a private equity firm based in San Diego, focused on second-order investing in the energy transition and critical infrastructure sectors.
The co-founders include Peter Jonna and Brad Forth, both who spent more than a decade operating and investing in this particular speciality.
To date, the investment firm has made seven investments. Its portfolio includes BBC Electrical Services, FastGrid, MGM Transformers, Mill Creek Renewables, PWRQ, RMS Energy, and States Manufacturing.
The firm invests in the renewable energy, power grid, infrastructure, data center, and energy-intensive industrial sectors. Primarily in the North America region.
Founding Story
Neos Managing Partner Peter Jonna and Senior Partner Brad Forth formed the firm after working for a decade-plus at Oaktree Capital Management, a firm with more than $200 billion in assets under management.
They worked in Oaktree’s power opportunities group, which invests in providers of products and services to infrastructure sectors such as clean energy, power, utility and water management.
During their time working at Oaktree, the duo had a front row seat in a handful successful deals, one that included Shoals Technologies, a supplier of equipment used in solar, battery and electric vehicle-charging systems.
Most notably, Oaktree acquired the Portland-based company in 2017 and took it public about 3 years later, earning more than 20 times its $90 million investment.
Private Equity Grows in San Diego
When Neos Partners launched last year, it remained largely under-the-radar even after WSJ wrote a piece highlighting its inaugural $800 million fund focused on clean-energy bets.
Neos follows a strategy similar to Oaktree’s by focusing on supply-chain businesses that benefit from the shift to clean energy as well as efforts to upgrade critical infrastructure.
About 25 of its team members are based in San Diego with others working from major markets such as Boston, New York, and Texas. Across its fund vehicles, Neos Partners manages roughly $2.7 billion in private capital.
It joins other private investment firms such as JMI Equity which raised a $2.4 Billion 11th fund and Seaside Equity Partners which raised $325 Million fund II last year.
UBS served as financial advisor and exclusive placement agent. Latham & Watkins LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as legal counsel for this year’s fund.
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