Blackstone Energy Transition Partners Acquires Power Solutions Provider Trystar
Alternative investment manager Blackstone’s energy-focused private equity business, Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, announced the acquisition of power solutions provider Trystar, with the firm citing opportunities to support the company’s growth as it pursues opportunities from factors including the energy transition and AI-driven growth in data centers.
Founded in 1991, Minnesota-based Trystar provides electrical power solutions for the commercial, industrial, and utility markets. Trystar’s product offerings include backup power solutions that help to ensure power reliability, one of the key needs emerging from the transition to increased electrification and as more renewable energy sources are added to the grid, providing lower carbon, but more intermittent energy.
Mark Zhu, Managing Director at Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, said:
“Trystar’s innovative and mission-critical power management solutions are well-positioned to benefit from several thematic tailwinds including growing demand for electricity and end-users prioritizing on-site power resiliency.”
According to David Foley, Global Head of Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, the acquisition “also continues our firm’s thematic focus on the exponential growth in data centers that are powering the AI revolution.” Several tech giants over the past few weeks, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon, have highlighted increased energy needs to meet the AI-driven growth in data centers as a key challenge to their decarbonization goals.
The transaction marks the latest in a series of energy transition focused investments for Blackstone, including the $1.5 billion acquisition of a renewable energy portfolio from AEP alongside CDPQ and Invenergy, and the acquisition of rooftop solar mounting company, Esdec Solar alongside Rivean Capital.
Blackstone has stated that it sees an opportunity to invest an estimated $100 billion in energy transition and climate change solutions projects over the next decade.
Bilal Khan, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, said:
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with the Trystar management team to drive the next phase of growth for the company. Building on our track record of energy transition investments, we look forward to leveraging Blackstone’s global scale and deep domain expertise to further enhance Trystar’s market position.”
AJ Smith, CEO of Trystar, added:
“We are tremendously excited about partnering with Blackstone. Together, we can build a leading platform serving the distributed power generation market and lead the charge in facilitating the energy transition.”