JPMorgan establishes alternative-energy unit
JPMorgan in alternative energy pushBy Ben White in New York
JPMorgan, seeking to capitalise on the boom in environmentally friendly technologies, has established an alternative energy investment banking unit and hired a former executive from General Electric to run it.
In an internal memo sent to staff this week, JPMorgan said it had hired Vandana Gupta from General Electric to head the new effort.
At GE, Ms Gupta managed $1bn in equity investments in the energy and power sectors, including solar and wind power. Prior to that, she was a power banker at Morgan Stanley. JPMorgan also said San Francisco banker Mark Zanoli would lead the investment bank’s coverage of emerging clean technology companies.
The moves comes as investment banks scramble to generate business from the growing number of companies that produce bio-fuels, wind power turbines, environmentally friendly waste management tools and other “green” products.
“Our view is that this is going to be a tremendous growth opportunity both in terms of the sector itself and a huge opportunity for investment banks,” said Doug Braunstein, head of investment banking in the Americas for JPMorgan.
The bank has already done a number of deals in the sector, including an equity and high-yield debt offering for New Jersey-based Covanta, which specialises in turning waste into energy, and a high-yield offering for Aventine Renewable Energy, which makes ethanol.
Other banks are also making strong efforts to capitalise on the green trend in corporate America.
- Credit Suisse formed a renewable energy banking group over a year ago and has done more than 40 deals in the area, including the first capital markets financings in the biofuel, wind and solar power industries. Credit Suisse, along with Morgan Stanley, led the highly successful IPO last year for solar power producer SunTech.
- Citigroup has an Alternative Energy Task Force within its energy investment banking group that targets deals in the solar, wind, biomass, ethanol and other renewable industries.
- Lehman Brothers has a “renewables vertical” comprised of its natural resources and power banking groups.
- Goldman Sachs, which two years ago became the first Wall Street bank with an official environmental policy, is also focused on green technology deals across its industry coverage groups and is among the largest principal investors in environmentally friendly technologies.
Labels: alternative energy, clean fuel, energy trading
posted by Victor Lloyd Smith @ 12:03 PM
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