BCI, Macquarie and Manulife Consortium Exit From Cleco
Stonepeak and Bernhard Capital Partners announced an agreement to acquire Cleco Group from a consortium including Macquarie Asset Management, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, and Manulife Investment Management, marking a significant transition in ownership of the Louisiana-based utility.
Headquartered in Pineville, Louisiana, Cleco serves approximately 298,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers across 24 parishes and employs around 1,200 people. Following the transaction, the company will remain locally managed and operated, retain its workforce and benefits structure, and continue to be regulated by the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
The acquisition is expected to bring additional capital and operational expertise to support Cleco’s ongoing efforts to enhance grid reliability, expand infrastructure, and drive regional economic growth. Stonepeak is expected to hold the majority interest in the company upon completion of the transaction.
Over the past decade, Cleco has invested approximately $3 billion in grid modernization and resiliency initiatives under its current ownership, strengthening system capacity and reliability. The company has also secured regulatory approval for its largest grid resiliency investment program, positioning it to meet increasing energy demand and support future development in the region.
The transaction aligns with both Stonepeak’s and Bernhard’s focus on investing in critical infrastructure and supporting long-term energy system resilience. The firms emphasized their commitment to maintaining Cleco’s legacy of reliable service while advancing innovation and economic development across Louisiana.
The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
Support: Greenhill, a Mizuho affiliate, served as financial advisor to Stonepeak, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acting as legal counsel; Centerview Partners LLC served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP as legal counsel to Bernhard; and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Moelis & Company LLC served as financial advisors to Cleco and the selling consortium, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Phelps Dunbar LLP acting as legal counsel.
KEY QUOTES:
“Cleco provides safe, reliable and affordable electricity to our customers in support of their quality of life, and we take pride in the work of our dedicated, local employees who support the communities in which we all live. Cleco’s employees are central to our success. In the last decade, we’ve become more safe, efficient and modern. With support from new partners Stonepeak and Bernhard, we can strengthen system reliability and encourage regional economic growth. This transaction marks an important day for our community, our customers and our company.”
Bill Fontenot, President And Chief Executive Officer, Cleco
“We have a deep appreciation for the critical role Cleco plays in the communities it serves and look forward to partnering with Cleco and Bernhard to support management’s key initiatives. We are excited to extend our track record of investing in Louisiana’s energy infrastructure and believe Cleco is well positioned to be a driver of economic growth within its service territory, while providing dependable service to its customers.”
Rob Kupchak, Senior Managing Director, Stonepeak
“This investment advances Bernhard Capital Partners’ focus on strengthening the nation’s critical energy infrastructure, building more resilient communities and accelerating innovation across the energy sector. It also reflects our continued investment in Louisiana—its people, its economy and its future. Our partnership combines Bernhard’s operational expertise and deep local knowledge alongside Stonepeak’s experience with similar mission-critical companies to build upon Cleco’s century of service in our state. Together, we will drive meaningful economic growth while continuing Cleco’s legacy of delivering essential energy service to communities across Louisiana.”
Jeff Jenkins, Founder And Partner, Bernhard Capital Partners
“Cleco’s progress in recent years reflects its strong collaboration with Louisiana communities, regulators and political leaders to build a more reliable system that meets customers’ evolving needs and supports economic growth across its service territory. It has been our privilege to have served as a steward of Cleco over the past 10 years as the company has navigated both challenges, such as maintaining high service standards during COVID-19 and the hurricanes of 2020 and 2021, and better times such as the growth phase the region has seen over the last few years.”
Aaron Rubin, Senior Managing Director And Head Of Americas Energy Infrastructure, Macquarie Asset Management
“Together with Macquarie and our consortium partners, we’ve worked closely with Cleco’s management team to strengthen and modernize its operations through long-term, targeted capital investments, reinforcing the company’s readiness to meet growing power demand across the region.”
Lincoln Webb, Executive Vice President And Global Head, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
Earlier today, BCI put out a press release stating Stonepeak and Bernhard Capital Partners to acquire Cleco:
Follows a decade of resilience-focused grid modernization under the ownership of Macquarie Asset Management, BCI and Manulife Investment Management
NEW YORK, BATON ROUGE & PINEVILLE, LA., and VICTORIA, BC – Stonepeak and Bernhard Capital Partners (“Bernhard”) today announced an agreement to acquire Cleco Group LLC (“Cleco” or the “Company”), from a consortium comprised of Macquarie Asset Management, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”) and Manulife Investment Management (“the Consortium”).
Headquartered in Pineville, Louisiana, Cleco is a regulated electric utility with 1,200 dedicated employees serving approximately 298,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in 24 Louisiana parishes. Following the close of the transaction, Cleco will:
- Remain locally managed and operated with its headquarters in Pineville
- Maintain its operating footprint and continue serving customers across Louisiana
- Retain employees and maintain compensation and benefit levels
- Continue to be regulated by the Louisiana Public Service Commission
- Remain focused on sustaining state leading reliability levels
This transaction will bring investors with deep access to capital, industry expertise and a local presence to support Cleco, a utility with more than 90 years in operation, in continuing to provide safe, reliable service to its customers. The strategic partnership and acquisition will also further Cleco’s position as a critical energy service provider and economic development engine across its service territory and the state of Louisiana.
“Cleco provides safe, reliable and affordable electricity to our customers in support of their quality of life, and we take pride in the work of our dedicated, local employees who support the communities in which we all live,” said Bill Fontenot, President & Chief Executive Officer at Cleco. “Cleco’s employees are central to our success. In the last decade, we’ve become more safe, efficient and modern. With support from new partners Stonepeak and Bernhard, we can strengthen system reliability and encourage regional economic growth. This transaction marks an important day for our community, our customers and our company.”
“We have a deep appreciation for the critical role Cleco plays in the communities it serves and look forward to partnering with Cleco and Bernhard to support management’s key initiatives,” said Rob Kupchak, Senior Managing Director at Stonepeak. “We are excited to extend our track record of investing in Louisiana’s energy infrastructure and believe Cleco is well positioned to be a driver of economic growth within its service territory, while providing dependable service to its customers.”
“This investment advances Bernhard Capital Partners’ focus on strengthening the nation’s critical energy infrastructure, building more resilient communities and accelerating innovation across the energy sector,” said Jeff Jenkins, Founder and Partner at Bernhard. “It also reflects our continued investment in Louisiana—its people, its economy and its future. Our partnership combines Bernhard’s operational expertise and deep local knowledge alongside Stonepeak’s experience with similar mission-critical companies to build upon Cleco’s century of service in our state. Together, we will drive meaningful economic growth while continuing Cleco’s legacy of delivering essential energy service to communities across Louisiana.”
Over the last decade, Cleco has modernized its operations and safe work practices while strengthening system capacity, positioning the company to support future load growth and new customers. Under the Consortium’s ownership, Cleco invested approximately $3 billion in support of projects like resiliency and to sustain its state-leading reliability. In November 2025, the Louisiana Public Service Commission unanimously approved the largest grid resiliency investment in Cleco’s history, enabling further system hardening and expansion.
“Cleco’s progress in recent years reflects its strong collaboration with Louisiana communities, regulators and political leaders to build a more reliable system that meets customers’ evolving needs and supports economic growth across its service territory,” said Aaron Rubin, Senior Managing Director and Head of Americas Energy Infrastructure at Macquarie Asset Management. “It has been our privilege to have served as a steward of Cleco over the past 10 years as the company has navigated both challenges, such as maintaining high service standards during COVID-19 and the hurricanes of 2020 and 2021, and better times such as the growth phase the region has seen over the last few years.”
“Together with Macquarie and our consortium partners, we’ve worked closely with Cleco’s management team to strengthen and modernize its operations through long-term, targeted capital investments, reinforcing the company’s readiness to meet growing power demand across the region,” said Lincoln Webb, Executive Vice President and Global Head, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources at BCI.
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Upon close, Stonepeak will hold the majority interest in Cleco.
Greenhill, a Mizuho affiliate, served as financial advisor to Stonepeak, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to Stonepeak and the buyer consortium. Centerview Partners LLC served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel to Bernhard. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Moelis & Company LLC served as financial advisors to Cleco, Macquarie Asset Management, BCI and Manulife Investment Management, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Phelps Dunbar LLP serving as legal counsel.
Last week, I discussed insights from BCI's 2026 Investor Day where I noted this on infrastructure from Lincoln Webb, BCI's Global Head of Infrastructure and Renewable Resources:
BCI Infrastructure & Renewable Resources has navigated through a number of bumps in the road—the global financial crisis, euro crisis, COVID, post-COVID inflation. Part of the reason is the highly diversified portfolio across many sectors and countries. When you look at the portfolio level, it’s very resilient.”
– Lincoln Webb, EVP & Global Head, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources
Now: How the I&RR portfolio has remained resilient
The resilience of BCI Infrastructure & Renewable Resources isn’t accidental. It’s the result of thoughtful construction and the application of a consistent set of principles over two decades and multiple market cycles: essential assets, defensive capital structures, and broad diversification.
Today, the portfolio spans 30+ countries, multiple sectors, and invests in essential services that people depend on regardless of economic conditions. Essential assets — electricity, gas, water, digital infrastructure — don’t stop being necessary because markets are volatile.
These principles have been tested repeatedly. The program has navigated through the global financial crisis, the Euro crisis, COVID and held steady through all of it. And when post-COVID inflation spiked to near double digits, built-in passthrough mechanisms allowed revenues to increase alongside rising costs.
Different shocks, different pressures but the result has been a resilient portfolio.
Next: Positioning for the next decades of growth
The megatrends that have driven infrastructure investment over the past two decades including digitization, energy security, and decarbonization, show no signs of slowing. And more recently, energy security and food security have come into focus. Globally, an estimated US$40 trillion2 in infrastructure investment is needed over the next 20 years to meet demand. Not all of that is accessible to private capital, but the investable opportunity set that meets the program’s risk-return profile remains sizeable.
Decarbonization is a case in point. Policy uncertainty in the US has caused some capital to pull back from renewables, pushing returns on operating solar and wind assets from 5–6% to 9–10%, while demand for clean, reliable energy isn’t slowing. That gap between retreating capital and growing demand is exactly the kind of opportunity BCI is built to capture.
Northview Energy is how that opportunity takes shape. BCI recently announced the acquisition of a portfolio of operating solar and wind assets under long-term contracts with high-quality energy buyers. The platform is built to grow with an agreement in place to acquire additional assets as the energy transition continues.
The focus at BCI's Infrastructure portfolio over the years has been on building a resilient and diversified portfolio across regions and and focus on megatrends including digitization, energy security, and decarbonization.
The investment in Cleco done alongside Macquarie Asset Management and Manulife Investment Management is a perfect example.
Here is the key passage I highlighted above:
Over the past decade, Cleco has invested approximately $3 billion in grid modernization and resiliency initiatives under its current ownership, strengthening system capacity and reliability. The company has also secured regulatory approval for its largest grid resiliency investment program, positioning it to meet increasing energy demand and support future development in the region.
The company invested approximately $3 billion in grid modernization and resiliency initiatives under its current ownership.
That shows me they had a value creation plan, executed on it over time and are now ready for an exit.
In terms of the value of this deal, Guru Focus puts it near $6 billion:
Macquarie Group (MCQEF) is edging closer to a potential exit from Louisiana utility Cleco Power, with a consortium led by Stonepeak Partners and Bernhard Capital Partners nearing a deal that could value the business between $5.75 billion and $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. A transaction could be announced as soon as Monday, although discussions remain private and subject to change. Cleco's ownership base also includes British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Manulife Investment Management, while representatives for the involved parties have either declined to comment or not responded.
Again, this is a great deal for all parties involved because Stonepeak Partners and Bernhard Capital Partners will help Cleco grow its business during its next growth phase.
It also shows you that even in infrastructure, you sell assets when the time and conditions are right.
Below, KALB Luisiana reports after almost a year of searching, Cleco now has a new owner.
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