Key Takeaways
- Sector: Energy Infrastructure & Renewables.
- Geography: United States.
Analysis
New York and Charlotte, August, 2025 – CBRE Investment Management (CBRE IM) has announced the acquisition of ClearGen Holdings LLC, a high-growth provider of distributed energy infrastructure financing. The transaction aims to accelerate CBRE IM’s clean energy strategy by scaling distributed energy resources across the United States.
Founded in 2020, ClearGen has built a portfolio of over 250 contracted distributed energy projects across 14 states. Its platform provides capital solutions for projects that are faster to power than traditional grid-connected assets, delivering cost savings, carbon reduction, and resiliency for end users including municipalities, businesses, and developers.
The acquisition positions CBRE IM to deepen its investments in Infrastructure 2.0, targeting assets that align with long-term macro tailwinds like electrification, decarbonization, and digitalization. The firm plans to expand ClearGen’s team at its Charlotte, North Carolina headquarters and increase deployment of capital into future-ready distributed systems, including solar, storage, and microgrids.
ClearGen is well positioned to capitalize on demand from the rise in data centers, electric vehicle infrastructure, industrial reshoring, and utility-scale congestion. Its ability to deliver finance and ownership structures tailored to energy developers makes it a key player in accelerating energy transition deployment timelines.
This transaction follows a wave of recent infrastructure investment activity. In 2025, Brookfield Renewable acquired UrbanGrid to build out distributed solar portfolios, KKR backed Nexamp to scale community solar projects, and Blackstone committed $1.2 billion to energy transition platforms including Clearloop and PowerFlex. Institutional capital is increasingly moving toward distributed models that offer faster deployment, lower interconnection risk, and stable long-term returns.
ClearGen’s leadership team will remain in place post-acquisition, continuing to lead origination, development partnerships, and portfolio management. The company is actively expanding its talent base to meet growing demand for scalable, localized clean energy solutions.
Marathon Capital served as exclusive financial advisor to ClearGen. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
CBRE Investment Management manages more than $155.3 billion in assets as of June 2025 and operates across 20 countries. This latest acquisition underscores its strategy of investing in sustainable real assets with contracted cash flow and scalable deployment potential.