HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Saber Power Services, LLC, (“Saber” or the “Company”), a fully integrated, substation and medium-to-high-voltage infrastructure services platform, announced today that an investor group led by Greenbelt Capital Management L.P. (“Greenbelt” or “Greenbelt Capital Partners”), in partnership with funds managed by Schroders Capital, StepStone Group and Wafra Inc., has completed their acquisition of the Company from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”). Key members of Saber’s management team will continue to own a significant stake in the Company. Greenbelt secured debt and equity financing to support the acquisition from Blackstone Credit.
Founded in 2010, Saber is a fully integrated, electrical services firm offering end-to-end design, construction, testing and maintenance solutions for substations and medium-to-high-voltage infrastructure across the renewables, battery storage, utility, industrial and energy infrastructure markets. Saber offers deep subject matter expertise utilizing an engineering-led and customer-centric approach to delivering critical services. The Houston-based company serves customers throughout Texas and the Southeast.
Brian Bratton, CEO of Saber, said, “With over a decade of experience, the Saber Power team has demonstrated its ability to provide a safe, reliable and high-performance service offering that excels in complex environments. We are excited for Saber’s next chapter and believe this investment from Greenbelt demonstrates the market leading position of our business and our customers’ trust in the quality of our work. We look forward to partnering with Greenbelt to unlock more efficient and resilient electrical infrastructure across the country.”
This investment will allow Saber to continue to support the energy transition by facilitating the build-out of renewables and battery resources while simultaneously enabling the ongoing electrification of the U.S. economy. Saber provides a robust suite of solutions that support customers’ electrification needs and the Company has solidified its position as a leading provider of electrical services throughout Texas and the Southeastern U.S. market.
Chris Murphy, Partner at Greenbelt, said, “Grid enablement and modernization is a key sector focus at Greenbelt. We believe Saber’s end-to-end service platform is critical to facilitate the growing penetration of distributed energy resources across the grid, as well as meet the increasing demands of mass-scale industrial electrification. We are thrilled to partner with Saber’s experienced and talented executive team and believe our history of investing across the new energy economy will allow us to help accelerate the Company’s growth.”
Saber’s electrical infrastructure installation, upgrade and replacement work is underpinned by system expansion and redesign in support of an increasingly distributed power generation fleet, renewables-paired storage, and grid hardening / resiliency programs that are driven by aging infrastructure, increasing energy load and more intense weather patterns. In addition, significant regulatory tailwinds like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) continue to pull-forward grid upgrades.
Sam Graham, Principal at Greenbelt, added, “The energy landscape is rapidly evolving as electrification trends continue to impact commercial and industrial end markets. Both physical assets and power markets will need to adapt to support load shifting, bi-directional power flows, and meaningfully increased power demand, all of which require increased grid complexity and strengthens demand for Saber’s specialized engineering, design, construction and maintenance services.”
Mark Rutledge, Managing Director and Nicholas Yam, Vice President with Blackstone Credit, said, “We are excited to partner with Greenbelt and look forward to supporting Saber with the next phase of its growth. Blackstone Credit invests in market leading energy-transition companies and believes Saber is well-positioned to play an important role in this space.”
Ulysses Fowler, Managing Director and Robert Wu, Senior Vice President of Oaktree’s Power Opportunities Group said: “Oaktree is proud to have supported Saber through a remarkable journey of strategic growth since 2019. We thank Brian, the entire management team, and all of Saber’s employees for their unrelenting commitment to delivering best-in-class solutions to clients while keeping to their core values of safety, quality, and customer satisfaction. Saber has tremendous opportunities ahead, and we wish the team continued success in its next chapter.”
Advisors
Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel to Greenbelt in connection with the transaction. Harris Williams LLC served as financial advisor to Saber in connection with the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to the Company and Oaktree in connection with the transaction.
About Saber
Saber Power Services, LLC is an engineering-led and construction-focused professional services company specializing in complex, medium-to-high voltage electrical infrastructure work. The Company offers specialty engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning, repair and maintenance and 24/7 emergency response across the Gulf Coast region. Learn more at saberpower.com.
About Greenbelt Capital Partners
Greenbelt Capital Partners is a growth-oriented middle-market private equity firm focused on control and significant minority investments across the energy sector, ranging from late-stage growth equity to private equity to infrastructure development. The senior team at Greenbelt has committed approximately $6 billion of equity capital to multiple portfolio companies and consummated more than $65 billion of M&A and financings in over 235 transactions across the portfolio. For more information, visit www.greenbeltcapital.com.
About Oaktree
Oaktree is a leader among global investment managers specializing in alternative investments, with $183 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2023. The firm emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and risk-controlled approach to investments in credit, private equity, real assets and listed equities. The firm has over 1,200 employees and offices in 21 cities worldwide. For additional information, please visit Oaktree’s website at www.oaktreecapital.com.
