ENGIE To Acquire Retail Supplier

Note: This story was first published the evening of Oct. 29 at 7:17 pm with an alert to our email subscribers

ENGIE Resources, LLC has entered into an agreement to acquire Plymouth Rock Energy, LLC (PRE)

MVC Capital, Inc. (NYSE: MVC) ("MVC Capital"), a publicly-traded business development company that makes private debt and equity investments, announced that MVC Private Equity Fund, L.P. ("MVC PE Fund") has agreed to sell its stake in Plymouth Rock Energy ("Plymouth") to ENGIE Resources ("ENGIE"). As described below, additional owners of Plymouth's parent will transfer their membership interests in Plymouth's parent to ENGIE as well

Plymouth Rock Energy, LLC, headquartered in Woodmere, NY, is a retail supplier of natural gas and electricity with approximately 465,000 Residential Customer Equivalents operating in 39 utility markets in the following 7 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois and Massachusetts.

On October 29, 2018, ENGIE agreed to purchase Plymouth, a retail energy provider of natural gas and electricity.

As part of the transaction, MVC PE Fund is anticipating a gross return on its equity investment in Plymouth of approximately 3.4X, based on the equity investments made since November 2011. The anticipated gross return of 3.4X assumes the full receipt of the escrow proceeds that are anticipated to be released at various dates ranging from 120 days from closing through one year following the closing. The gross return on investment excludes the carried interest and other fees charged to investors.

"Plymouth’s customers will join our portfolio of over 25,000 commercial & industrial power & natural gas customers, expanding our market share in New York, and it should give us a much larger presence down-state," said Graham Leith, Senior Vice President, Head of Retail, ENGIE Resources.

PRE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Plymouth Rock Energy Holding, LLC ("Plymouth Holding"), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Plymouth Rock Energy Parent Holding, LLC ("Plymouth Parent"). Plymouth Parent is owned in part by MVC Private Equity Fund, LP ("MVC PE"), which has a majority control of the board of directors of Plymouth Parent and its subsidiaries. MVC GP II, LLC, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of MVC Capital, Inc. ("MVC"), serves as the general partner of MVC PE. MVC is a Delaware corporation and is a publicly traded business development company listed on the New York Stock Exchange that provides long-term equity and debt investment capital to fund growth, acquisitions, and recapitalization of small and middle market companies in various industries, primarily within the United States. The individuals, David Sokol, Adam Sokol, and Mendel Sokol, each own a various membership interests in Plymouth Parent.

On October 30, 2018, MVC PE, David Sokol, Adam Sokol, Mendel Sokol, and ENGIE Resources entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement ("Purchase Agreement"). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, David Sokol, Adam Sokol, Mendel Sokol, and MVC PE will transfer their respective membership interests in Plymouth Parent to ENGIE Resources such that ENGIE Resources will indirectly own 100 percent of the outstanding equity interest in PRE.