Good evening,

Some $1 billion in solar and wind assets are set to hit the auction block after a looming redemption deadline at DIF Capital Partners prompted the global fund manager to offload the portfolio.

Street Talk can reveal DIF and Cbus Super have mandated Macquarie Capital to sell a combined 80.1 per cent stake in Bright Energy Investments, which is being marketed as the third-largest portfolio in the Wholesale Electricity Market to come to the market since 2008. The sale process also includes DIF’s stakes in three operating solar assets and two battery developments in the National Electricity Market. All up, that’s about 1.1 gigawatts.

The deal is expected to have an enterprise value of about $1 billion, split evenly across debt and equity. Potential buyers have been told non-binding indicative bids would be due in July or August.

The industry superannuation giant, managing some $85 billion in retirement savings, has been a minority shareholder at Bright Energy since 2018. Cbus, sources said, joined DIF’s selldown to avoid contemplating life on the register with an unknown major shareholder.

There are plenty in the market who expect this dynamic to be front and centre on many deals. That is, private capital needing to liquidate 10-year closed-ended funds, and the subsequent rethink among minority co-investors at those assets.

Of note, KKR, GIP and Stonepeak are all approaching end-of-life at funds raised in the past decade.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

• Chicago’s Madison Dearborn Partners has agreed a deal to delist APM Human Services for $1.3 billion, or $1.45 a share, less than four years after its IPO.
• Two private equity firms specialising in turnarounds are expected to submit bids for Fletcher Building‘s Tradelink by the Friday deadline.
• Deal makers doubt if Brookfield’s $10.6 billion purchase of French renewables player Neoen would clear the ACCC.
• Tribeca Investment Partners has bid farewell to fundraising specialist GSFM after 16 years.

• Guzman y Gomez has flagged a $2.2 billion IPO.
• From 400 red buses in Melbourne to $400 million a year and a $4 billion payday. Chanticleer on Kinetic.
• Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman will sell stake in Pershing Square ahead of circa $10 billion IPO, Bloomberg reports.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.