When this post first ran on 10 May 2024, Energy Capital Partners was the reported front-runner to buy Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure. Eighteen days later ECP signed. The price, about $7.5 billion including debt, valued the whole company. Measured against earnings, though, it does not look expensive at all.
Key takeaways
- Energy Capital Partners (ECP) announced on 28 May 2024 an agreement, through a newly formed Bidco, to acquire Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, which Enerdatics calculates at an enterprise value of about $7.5 billion.
- Enerdatics bases the Atlantica valuation on an equity value of $2.5 billion, at about $22 per share, plus net debt of $5 billion as of 31 March 2024.
- ECP's offer for Atlantica represents a 21.8 percent premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average share price as of 22 April 2024, and is backed by Algonquin Power & Utilities and Liberty (AY Holdings), which together own 42.2 percent.
- Atlantica reported revenue of $1.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $784.9 million for the twelve months to March 2024, implying an EV/EBITDA multiple of about 9.7 times on Enerdatics' recorded value of $7,577 million.
- Across 13 US corporate energy transition deals announced between January 2023 and June 2025 with an EV/EBITDA multiple recorded by Enerdatics, the median is 11.51 times, with a lower quartile of 8.69 times.
How did ECP go from front-runner to signed buyer?
Quickly. In early May the market had ECP as the leading candidate among the bidders for Atlantica. By 28 May it had incorporated an acquisition vehicle, known as Bidco, and signed an agreement to buy the whole company. ECP is not doing it alone: the deal brings in a large group of institutional investors alongside it.
The decisive step was support from Atlantica's largest shareholders. Algonquin Power & Utilities and Liberty, through AY Holdings, own a combined 42.2 percent and fully back the transaction. With that block committed, a rival would need to win over most of the remaining shareholders to change the outcome.
The offer of about $22 per share sits 21.8 percent above Atlantica's 30-day volume-weighted average price as of 22 April 2024. After completion, Atlantica will become a private company and its shares will no longer trade on any public market. Closing was expected in the fourth quarter of 2024 or early in the first quarter of 2025.
Why is most of the price debt?
Because Atlantica is built on project finance. Enerdatics' $7.5 billion enterprise value combines $2.5 billion of equity with $5 billion of net debt. Enterprise value is the price of the whole business, equity plus net debt, which is the figure that matters when comparing companies with different amounts of borrowing.
Most of that debt sits inside the projects. Atlantica reported net project debt of $3.89 billion and net corporate debt of $1.26 billion as of 31 March 2024. Project debt is repaid from each asset's own contracted revenue. That structure explains why the equity cheque, at $2.5 billion, is only a third of the headline value.
The contracts underpinning that debt are long. Atlantica sells power under utility PPAs with a weighted average remaining life of 13 years, with customers including APS, PG&E, Idaho Power, Enel Colombia and Montevideo Refrescos.
What kind of company is ECP actually buying?
A broader one than the word renewables suggests. By assets, Atlantica is 69 percent renewable energy and storage, 14 percent efficient natural gas, 13 percent electric transmission and 4 percent water. By revenue, more than half comes from non-renewable sources, including transmission lines, efficient natural gas and heat, and water assets.
The renewable side is still substantial. Atlantica owns a 2.2 GW operating portfolio of fully contracted solar and wind, split 51 percent solar, 28.5 percent wind and 20.5 percent other technologies, including a 135 MW geothermal plant and a 4 MW mini hydro plant. It also holds a 3.8 GW pipeline, of which 1.6 GW is storage. The non-renewable side adds 398 MW of efficient natural gas and heat, 1,229 miles of transmission lines and three water treatment plants. The assets are spread across North America, South America and EMEA.
Enerdatics' data shows 154 US corporate energy transition deals announced between January 2023 and June 2025, of which 13 carry an EV/EBITDA multiple. The median is 11.51 times, the lower quartile 8.69 times and the upper quartile 21.9 times. At about 9.7 times, Atlantica sits in the lower half, between the lower quartile and the median. On revenue the picture changes: Atlantica's enterprise value is about 6.9 times its $1.1 billion of revenue, close to the 6.74 times median across the 14 deals in the same slice with a revenue multiple. The gap between the two readings reflects Atlantica's high EBITDA margin rather than a cheap price on sales.
What does the deal signal for listed renewables owners?
It suggests private infrastructure capital will pay a premium to the share price but not a premium to the earnings multiples seen in other US platform deals. Atlantica's mix of contracted renewables, gas, transmission and water is stable rather than fast-growing. A 21.8 percent premium to the share price can still translate into a below-median EBITDA multiple.
For ECP the logic is scale and cash flow. Atlantica brings contracted assets on three continents and a pipeline it can develop as a private company. ECP has been both buying and selling in renewables over this period: it acquired the US wind developer Triple Oak Power for its 'minimal capital' development model, and agreed to sell half of Terra-Gen to Masdar as part of a full exit from that business.
The template is clear. Listed yield companies whose share prices lag the value of their contracts are candidates for take-private deals, and a supportive anchor shareholder makes them easier to win.
Frequently asked questions
Who is acquiring Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure? Energy Capital Partners agreed on 28 May 2024 to acquire Atlantica through a newly formed Bidco, alongside a large group of institutional investors.
What is the enterprise value of the Atlantica deal? Enerdatics calculates the enterprise value at about $7.5 billion, based on an equity value of $2.5 billion, at about $22 per share, and net debt of $5 billion as of 31 March 2024.
What EV/EBITDA multiple did ECP pay for Atlantica? On Enerdatics' recorded value of $7,577 million and adjusted EBITDA of $784.9 million, the deal implies about 9.7 times EBITDA, below the 11.51 times median for US corporate energy transition deals since 2023.
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