Veteran Renewable Natural Gas Management Team Forms Viridi Energy with Equity Commitment from Warburg Pincus Jun 2, 2022
Viridi Energy will be backed by an approximately $320 million equity commitment led by Warburg Pincus
NEW YORK, NY – June 2, 2022 – Viridi Energy (“Viridi”), a full-service renewable natural gas (“RNG”) platform, today announced an approximately $320 million line of equity commitment led by Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor. The investment will allow Viridi to build a leading energy platform of scale focused on developing RNG sourced from landfill, dairy, and food waste feedstocks.
Viridi is led by Chief Executive Officer, Andy Kelleher, who brings to the company a deep experience founding and leading companies in energy and environmental commodities, and also serves as Managing Partner at Green Rock Energy Partners. In addition to Mr. Kelleher, the founding management team includes Chet Benham, Matt Atkins, Jake Crouse, Dana Husnay, and Bill Keller. Together, the team has over 75 years of experience developing and operating energy assets and has successfully developed more than 30 projects in the RNG space. Management plans to leverage their biogas expertise to develop projects across the landfill, dairy, and food waste sectors with a focus on best-in-class operations and technology.
“Viridi has a truly differentiated approach, with the unique ability to handle all parts of the RNG value chain, spanning development, operations, financing, and commercial strategy. Our mission is to work closely with a broad base of stakeholders to develop RNG that will replace higher emission fuel in a cost-friendly and environmentally effective way,” said Andy Kelleher, CEO, Viridi Energy. Prior to Green Rock Energy Partners, Mr. Kelleher was the Head of U.S. Oil Trading at Glencore and President of Supply and Trading at ConocoPhillips.
“Our team’s collective experience sourcing, developing, and operating RNG opportunities will be crucial in building the Viridi platform and its success. With significant equity backing led by Warburg Pincus, we will be well-positioned to identify and develop RNG assets where the latest technology can unlock further value potential,” said Chet Benham, President of Viridi Energy. Mr. Benham was previously the President of Unconventional Gas Solutions LLC, and CEO of Air Liquide Advanced Technologies U.S. LLC, where he supervised all of the RNG business in the Americas.
Matt Atkins, who joins Viridi as VP Operations, previously served as Director of O&M at Brightmark and as Project Manager at Amec Foster Wheeler and Fluor. Jake Crouse, who joins Viridi as VP Origination, previously served as Vice President of Biogas at Air Liquide. Dana Husnay, who joins Viridi as VP Development, previously served as Director of RNG Operations at Air Liquide. Bill Keller also joins as VP Markets & Strategy, after having served as global General Manager for gas separation technologies at Air Liquide and as a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Warburg Pincus has a strong track record of investing in companies committed to the growth of Environmental, Sustainability, and Governance (“ESG”) practices across all sectors, including low-carbon opportunities. Notable energy transition investments include ClimeCo, Eco Material Technologies, Gradiant, Monolith, Scale Microgrid Solutions, and Solar Mosaic.
“We consider the Viridi management team to be pioneers in the RNG industry, having developed several dozen RNG assets over the course of their careers. We believe that this equity capital commitment, combined with support from our debt financing relationships, will allow us to invest up to a billion dollars of total capital to create a leading platform in the RNG space,” said Roy Ben-Dor, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus.
Viridi is currently developing multiple projects across the food waste, agricultural waste, and landfill gas sectors, and expects to break ground on several RNG development assets in the third quarter of 2022.
About Viridi Energy
Viridi Energy is a full-service renewable natural gas (“RNG”) platform founded by a veteran renewable natural gas management team. The company is developing a platform to build, own and operate RNG assets with landfill, dairy, and food waste feedstocks across North America. For more information, please visit www.viridirng.com.
About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global growth investor. The firm has more than $80 billion in assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 245 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 21 private equity and 2 real estate funds, which have invested more than $100 billion in over 1,000 companies in more than 40 countries. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
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Viridi Energy
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Sarah McGrath Bloom