The Virgo investment demonstrates the power of our financing platform and confidence in Ygrene to further secure our leadership position in the rapidly growing PACE financing industry. -Stacey Lawson, President and CEO of Ygrene
REDWOOD SHORES, CA (PRWEB) August 15, 2014
Virgo Investment Group (“Virgo”) announced that it has completed a $30 million investment in Ygrene Energy (“Ygrene”).
Ygrene, headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, and founded in 2010, focuses on Property Assessed Clean Energy (“PACE”) financings for both residential and commercial properties. Ygrene works with county and city districts to develop and administer PACE programs. PACE is an adaptation of a financing method that state and local governments in the United States have used for decades. Ygrene’s product allows property owners to finance both on-going maintenance needs as well as value-added cost-saving retrofits, at a low cost and on a non-recourse (or off balance sheet) basis, which maximizes property owners financial flexibility and value.
Mack McNair, who leads Virgo’s financial services investments, said, “We are pleased to partner with Ygrene and its management, Dennis Hunter and Stacey Lawson. We believe the current backdrop in the commercial banking sector creates a market seam for developing innovative financing solutions and specialty finance companies. Ygrene is a leader in its sector offering a unique product that targets a large addressable market. We are excited to join the board to work together with the founders on the acceleration of the company’s origination efforts and growth plan.”
“The Virgo investment will allow Ygrene to further secure our leadership position in the rapidly growing PACE financing industry by scaling our operations to capture growing demand,” said Stacey Lawson, Ygrene President and CEO. “We are thrilled to have Virgo as a partner – Mack McNair and the Virgo team have been highly collaborative and creative in structuring this transaction to meet our unique needs. We look forward to working with Virgo as we expand Ygrene’s footprint and accelerate our origination efforts.”
About Virgo
Virgo is an opportunistic, value investor. Virgo invests in market dislocations and areas of corporate change targeting both less efficient market segments and identified themes (or “market seams”) in the firm’s core industries. A theme-based approach to idea generation coupled with proactive sourcing, a flexible mandate and creative transaction structuring skills, allows the firm to create differentiated opportunities and optimize risk-adjusted returns across market investment cycles. Virgo is an actively engaged investor that seeks to contribute ideas and human capital to the harvesting of value post-investment and has a history of partnering with founder entrepreneurs, like Dennis Hunter and Stacey Lawson, and family-owned companies to support their growth initiatives.
Founded in 2009, Virgo has invested nearly $600 million, completing 34 investments to date.