Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) announced a strategic partnership with North Bridge ESG LLC ("North Bridge") to provide up to $1 billion for the origination of commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) loans. This collaboration aims to leverage Carlyle's expertise in strategic growth, real estate, and asset-backed finance to enable North Bridge to meet evolving market demands on a larger scale.
North Bridge specializes in C-PACE financing for institutional borrowers across major markets nationwide. C-PACE is a fixed-rate financing method secured by local property assessments and is increasingly favored for its benefits to commercial real estate capital structures. The financing can be utilized for new construction projects, renovations, acquisitions, and recapitalization opportunities.
“Carlyle’s $1B commitment to C-PACE, the largest to date, enables North Bridge to lead the transformation of the industry to better meet the needs of institutional sponsors and their lenders,” said Laura Rapaport, Founder and CEO of North Bridge. “We are excited to partner with Carlyle, an established leader in the private credit space, given their exceptional track record of partnering with companies to drive growth.”
"We are pleased to bring together Carlyle's significant expertise in asset-backed finance and real estate credit to help commercial real estate owners address their financing needs," said Akhil Bansal, Head of Credit Strategic Solutions at Carlyle. "North Bridge has a proven capability to deliver C-PACE financing solutions of substantial size to borrowers and sponsors, and we are excited to partner with them."
Rachel King, Principal focused on opportunistic real estate credit at Carlyle, added: “Our partnership with North Bridge allows us to further meet the financing demands facing the industry. Banks have pulled back from commercial real estate lending due to concentration risk in the sector, resulting in attractive relative value opportunities for C-PACE lenders.”
The transaction was facilitated by Carlyle’s Credit Strategic Solutions (CSS) and Private Credit teams. CSS focuses on private fixed income and asset-backed investments within Carlyle’s Global Credit business. Since 2021, CSS has deployed nearly $5 billion and manages approximately $7 billion in assets as of June 30th, 2024.
Paul Hastings LLP served as legal advisor for Carlyle during this transaction. Latham & Watkins LLP and Chapman and Cutler LLP advised North Bridge.