A special-purpose acquisition company created in late 2020 by real estate services giant CBRE is set to acquire Altus Power, which installs solar power implements on commercial properties, in a deal that values Altus at $1.58B.

CBRE Acquisition Holdings' merger with Altus, which specializes in solar generation, energy storage and electric vehicle charging stations at commercial properties, would take Altus public. The company offers property owners relatively inexpensive power in return for a place (such as a massive warehouse rooftop) to develop solar power installations. Altus is then able to sell the surplus power generated by its installations.

The company has more than 200 installations able to produce more than 265 megawatts of power. The SPAC deal will give Altus access to CBRE's long list of clients for potential installation sites. CBRE's facilities management business encompasses about 7B SF of commercial property.

“We are experiencing intense pressure from our clients to help them be more environmentally well positioned,” CBRE CEO Robert Sulentic told The Wall Street Journal.

Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Altus Power is owned by its management team and Blackstone Credit. Under the terms of the merger with CBRE Acquisition Holdings, Altus will become a publicly traded entity listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Blackstone will own about 17% of Altus once the deal is complete.

Solar energy is on a roll. In 2020, for the second year in a row, solar led all technologies in new U.S. electric-generating capacity, accounting for 43% of the total added, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association. A record 19.2 gigawatts of solar capacity was installed in 2020. Wood Mackenzie forecasts that by 2030 the U.S. solar industry will install a cumulative 324 GW of new capacity to reach a total of 419 GW.