Blackstone Announces $400 Million Investment In Xpansiv

Blackstone, the U.S. investment giant, announced today that it has committed $400 million, through its Energy Partners division, to lead a strategic investment into Xpansiv, the preeminent market-infrastructure platform for global carbon and environmental commodities.

Photo Insert: Blackstone’s capital will enable Xpansiv to continue driving growth across both organic initiatives and future acquisitions.

"This partnership will help us solidify our leading position in carbon and leverage our platform to scale markets and products to accelerate the energy transition across renewable energy, digital fuels, and beyond. We're absolutely thrilled with the partnership," said Xpansiv CEO Joe Madden.

Xpansiv is the leading global carbon and environmental commodities exchange platform. It connects buyers and sellers of environmental commodities, as well as providing market data for voluntary carbon offsets, renewable energy credits (RECs), and low-carbon fuels, all of which are essential components of global decarbonization.

Xpansiv's expanding ecosystem assists businesses aiming to satisfy environmental and emissions reduction targets.

“We believe environmental commodities are a critical new asset class that must scale exponentially to meet climate change mitigation targets pledged by governments, companies, and entire industries. Xpansiv is a leader in this space, and we are delighted to provide the capital and resources to help them further expand their offerings and accelerate their growth,” said Bilal Khan, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone.

Blackstone’s capital will enable Xpansiv to continue driving growth across both organic initiatives and future acquisitions. The transaction continues Blackstone’s recent thematic investments in the energy-transition and climate-solutions spaces, which include Legence and Sphera.

“Xpansiv has a first-mover advantage, and Blackstone’s investment will enable them to capitalize upon that lead, creating a uniquely positioned company with ownership of critical software, technology, and a scalable exchange for trading voluntary carbon offsets and related environmental products. We believe this market will experience exponential growth over the next decade,” said David Foley, Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners.

According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Blackstone made its investment through a six-year term loan for US$400 million ($589 million), giving the investment firm the option to convert all or part of its investment into Xpansiv shares at a post-money valuation of US$1.4 billion.

Blackstone was anticipated to appoint three directors to the board of Xpansiv.

The funds would assist Xpansiv, a prominent player in the developing carbon trading market, in settling its US$300 million bill for commodity markets registry provider APX, which it has had a formal agreement to purchase since February 2022 and proposed funding through an IPO.

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