Marathon Capital, LLC (“Marathon”) is pleased to announce that IGS Solar and a private equity fund managed by Ares EIF, the power and energy infrastructure strategy within Ares Management, L.P. (NYSE: ARES), have closed an approximately $145 million tax equity capital partnership with an undisclosed tax equity investor to finance solar generation assets for homeowners throughout the United States.

This partnership is expected to deploy an initial portfolio of approximately 4,000 residential solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) in the northeastern United States. Marathon acted as exclusive financial advisor to IGS Solar in arranging the equity capital commitment from Ares EIF and the partnership’s tax equity capital commitment.

IGS Solar is the solar development affiliate of IGS Energy, one of the largest independent retail electricity and gas providers in the United States.

IGS Solar leverages IGS Energy’s best-in-class operations platform, over one million existing customer relationships and financial strength to arrange project financing and provide asset management services for contractors who sell and install residential solar systems.

Ares EIF targets private equity investments across the U.S. power generation, transmission and midstream sectors. Ares EIF’s more than 30-year track record in energy investing helps IGS Solar to provide an attractive PPA financing option that enables homeowners to install solar systems that generate immediate savings on utility bills at no cost to the customer.

“Ares EIF is a very sophisticated and knowledgeable partner in the energy markets, and we look forward to working with them on this and other opportunities as the energy landscape evolves,” stated Scott White, President and CEO of IGS Solar.

“Residential solar is a natural extension of our investment strategy, and we are pleased to have found a partner that shares our vision for a best-in-class residential solar platform,” said Andrew Schroeder, Partner at Ares EIF. “We are excited about the opportunity to align with an experienced and talented management team to grow IGS Solar and expand our relationship with IGS Energy, which we view as a model for a 21st century power and energy platform.”

Marathon’s extensive experience arranging equity capital partnerships in the distributed solar sector helped IGS Solar identify Ares EIF as a great partner to grow its residential solar platform. “We are very pleased to have brought two excellent teams together and are extremely optimistic about the future prospects of the partnership,” said Gary Greenblatt, Managing Director at Marathon. “With support from Ares, IGS Solar is well-positioned to be the first formidable new entrant in residential solar financing space in several years.”