O’Melveny Advises Korean Clean-Energy Leader SK E&S on its up to US$400 Million Investment in REV Renewables
October 21, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEOUL—October 21, 2021—O’Melveny advised Korea-based SK E&S Co., Ltd., a global leader in clean energy solutions, on its up to US$400 million equity investment in REV Renewables, LLC, an LS Power company focused on the development, acquisition and operation of renewables and energy storage.
The investment was announced October 18 and is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
SK E&S’s investment will help accelerate the expansion of REV’s portfolio of renewable power and energy storage projects. SK E&S in return will receive an ownership stake in REV’s renewables and energy storage platform and will hold one seat on REV’s board of directors.
Headquartered in Seoul, SK E&S is Korea's largest privately-owned liquefied natural gas player. It is an affiliate of SK Group, one of Korea’s top three business conglomerates with about $106 billion in annual global revenue and more than 110,000 employees worldwide as of 2020.
New York-based LS Power is a leading development, investment and operating company focused on the North American power and energy infrastructure sector.
The O’Melveny team advising SK E&S is led by partner Daniel Kim and associate Hae-In Park, with support from senior counsel Hugh Hilliard, counsel Maria Von Schack and associate Trevor Wysocki.
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Contact:
Brandon Jacobsen
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
+1 213 430 8024
bjacobsen@omm.com
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LS Power issued the following release via PR Newswire:
LS Power Announces Global Clean Energy Leader SK E&S Co. Investment in REV Renewables
Oct 18, 2021, 07:00 ET
NEW YORK and SEOUL, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LS Power, a leading development, investment and operating company focused on the North American power and energy infrastructure sector, today announced that SK E&S Co., Ltd. ("SK E&S"), a global leader in clean energy solutions headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, will become an equity investor in REV Renewables, LLC ("REV"), an LS Power company focused on the development, acquisition and operation of renewables and energy storage.
The transaction will include a $300 million to $400 million investment from SK E&S that will help accelerate the expansion of REV's portfolio of renewable power and energy storage projects.
SK E&S in return will receive an ownership stake in the renewables and energy storage platform and will hold one seat on REV's Board of Directors. The investment is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
"The energy transition is underway and we believe renewables and storage represent the largest opportunities and challenges. We formed REV to tackle these challenges and we are extremely pleased that a company with the vision, sophistication and global reach of SK E&S is investing alongside us in REV Renewables," said Paul Segal, CEO of LS Power and Chairman of REV's Board of Directors. "SK E&S' leadership in advancing the energy transition globally across a range of clean energy technologies is well known and we are excited to be able to partner with them today."
"SK E&S' investment will provide additional capacity to achieve REV Renewables' mission to decarbonize electricity supply in a manner that is affordable and reliable and accelerates the company's growth trajectory," said Ed Sondey, CEO of REV.
"We are excited to invest in REV Renewables. SK E&S is very committed to realizing a net-zero world and has been leading this transition globally with our innovative energy solution business models and technologies. We strongly believe that REV will spearhead the transformation of the energy landscape in the United States, creating significant value, not only for the business, but also for society as a whole," said Kyungyeol Song, Executive Vice President and Head of EQ-TF at SK E&S.
SK E&S has made distinctive investments in the United States across the energy solution value chain in recent years which include: the 2019 acquisition of the largest behind-the-meter energy storage portfolio in California; a 2020 investment in Sunrun and the creation of a joint venture to accelerate the adoption of renewables, the electrification of homes, and the transition to a connected and distributed energy system; 2021 investments in hydrogen technology company Plug Power and battery storage developer, owner and operator Key Capture Energy.
SK E&S' holistic portfolio aims to provide solutions to resolve complex issues that evolve from the energy transition and also create potential technological breakthroughs to provide total solutions for the green business globally, which SK E&S refers to as "energy solution."
LS Power and SK E&S Strategic Collaboration
Additionally, LS Power and SK E&S agreed to form a joint strategic task force to identify and evaluate potential collaboration opportunities across the full range of clean energy technologies and services. John King, Executive Vice President at LS Power and a member of REV's Board of Directors, will serve as LS Power's lead member of the task force.
"We are excited to collaborate with SK E&S to jointly identify additional business opportunities that will accelerate the clean energy transition. Their global track record of success in developing solutions across the clean energy spectrum makes SK E&S an outstanding partner for LS Power as we expand efforts to decarbonize the economy," King said.
"Combining LS Power's strong leadership in the US power industry with SK E&S' proven track record in global energy solution businesses, we are confident in our collective ability to identify new actionable clean energy business opportunities through this strategic task force initiative. The stellar management team of LS Power gave us the confidence to partner with them in these collaborative efforts," said Kidae Park, Project Leader of EQ-TF at SK E&S.
LS Power's Energy Transition Investments
For decades, LS Power has been at the leading edge of the US power sector's evolution, often introducing or commercializing new technologies and developing new markets. In addition to REV Renewables, LS Power's growing family of clean energy platforms includes:
• EVgo, the nation's largest public fast charging network for electric vehicles and the first powered by 100% renewable energy;REV Renewables Launch
LS Power announced the formation of REV Renewables in August 2021. With a 2.4 GW portfolio of operating storage, solar and wind projects, REV launched as one of the largest independent pure-play energy storage and renewables companies in the U.S.
REV's portfolio includes a California-based battery storage portfolio (290 MW) that includes Gateway (250 MW); the largest non-utility pumped storage hydro portfolio in the mid-Atlantic region of PJM (1,620 MW); wind assets (132 MW); and a portfolio of 25 solar power facilities spanning 14 states (467 MWdc/365MWac). REV also has a development pipeline of projects underway across the country.
Transaction advisors included Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and RBC Capital Markets, LLC as financial advisors to LS Power and REV Renewables, and BofA Securities, Inc. as financial advisor to SK E&S. Additionally, legal advisors included Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP for LS Power and REV, and O'Melveny & Myers LLP for SK E&S.
ABOUT REV RENEWABLES
REV Renewables, an LS Power company, is an industry leader in the development, acquisition and operation of renewables and energy storage. With a 2.4 GW operating portfolio and a substantial development pipeline, REV represents one of the nation's largest non-utility portfolios of renewables and energy storage. REV is dedicated to solving a critical challenge in the transformation of our energy systems: decarbonizing electricity supply while maintaining affordability, reliability and resilience. With a focus on innovation, REV continually seeks to optimize solutions in step with an evolving regulatory, political, environmental and market landscape. For more information, please visit www.REVrenewables.com.
ABOUT LS POWER
LS Power is a development, investment and operating company focused on the North American power and energy infrastructure sector. Since its inception in 1990, in addition to its development of more than 660 miles of high voltage transmission, LS Power has developed, constructed, managed or acquired more than 45,000 MW of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, natural gas-fired and battery energy storage projects. LS Power actively invests in distributed energy resource platforms, such as CPower Energy Management, Endurant Energy and EVgo, as well as Primary Renewable Fuels. Additionally, LS Power invests in renewables and energy storage through REV Renewables. Across its efforts, LS Power has raised in excess of $47 billion in debt and equity financing to support North American infrastructure. For more information, please visit www.LSPower.com.
ABOUT SK E&S
SK E&S, established in 1999 and based in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, is an affiliate of SK Group, one of the country's top three business conglomerates with about $106 billion in annual global revenue and more than 110,000 employees worldwide as of 2020. SK E&S is Korea's largest privately-owned liquefied natural gas (LNG) player with globally integrated value chain from upstream natural gas field to midstream LNG regasification terminal and LNG carriers and to downstream city gas distribution, power generation, and district heating cogeneration businesses in Korea. In addition to the strong LNG value chain, SK E&S invests mainly in four growth sectors: Renewables, Energy Solution, Hydrogen and Clean LNG with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology. In the Renewables and Energy Solution sectors, SK E&S is a leading renewable energy generator with more than 2.5 GW of solar, wind, and fuel cell project portfolio in Korea, and it is expanding to Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam, etc. SK E&S currently operates about 700 megawatt hours (MWh) energy storage both in Korea and the U.S., including the largest distributed battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio in California. For more information on SK E&S, visit http://www.skens.com.