40 Comments
 

Cheap natural gas and the end of European subsidies are part of the equation, and the inventions that were supposed to make clean tech more efficient never happened.

 

GS SF has one of the top cleantech/renewables groups and they were the lead-left bookrunner on some of the only "successful" cleantech IPO's including Tesla, SolarCity, and Silver Spring Networks. They also have a dedicated cleantech fund that helps invest in the companies they advise (put $500 MM into SolarCity). As an IBD analyst, you'd actually get the chance to do a bit of buy-side investing work, which is a really unique opportunity. FYI the cleantech group is housed under West Region Advisory at GS SF (not TMT)

 

if you want clean tech, go with Morgan Stanley's tech practice in menlo park. MS is one of the top 2 firms competing in the tech space (with GS), and morgan stanley is one of the pioneers breaking into clean tech, with recent deals like Miasole's large private placement. doubt youll find a lot of clean tech elsewhere

 

Clean technologies are rather necessary to use in every area of people life. It is really great that a lot of people have enough opportunities to work. Why not use them?

 

I have some exposure to the space, I'd say greenfield won't be hot again for a couple of years (lots of brownfield opportunities = folks don't want to take the risk of a greenfield project); that said, if you want to be in a cool/cutting edge sector something like tech/media might be better

 

i'm not sure if GS does a lot of clean tech deals yet. when I mentioned them, I was referring to their reputation along with MS for tech as a whole.

But yes- if they do deals, it would be the TMT group, which is equally split as far as I understand between SF and NY (probably with SF being more "T" focused and, as a result, more clean tech focused)

 

The universe of cleantech investors has narrowed significantly over the years. Something like $11 billion in new VC funding was raised for cleantech funds in 2009/2010, this year it was under $1 billion. I would say that there are maybe 10-20 funds that are actively investing in the sector - this is not including the insurance companies, pension funds, etc. that buy into projects for the yield. Here are funds with dedicated cleantech arms (note that most energy funds will have some overlap unless its solely O&G) that I know of on the West Coast:

-Vantagepoint (shelved their last fundraise but have a huge portfolio) -Kleiner (took a bath on a few deals but definitely the biggest investor in the space) -Khosla -Nth Power -US Renewables Group (more PE) -Silver Lake -GE/Siemens/Chevron all have VC groups, some are split between SF and Boston

PM me if you've got any questions.

 

Piper's does great work and is very committed to the space. Really great guys in their SF office. GS is starting to do some really interesting things in the space I've been told.

Ace all your PE interview questions with the WSO Private Equity Prep Pack: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide/private-equity-interview-prep-questions
 

seems like DB and JEF dominate, JEF brought lots of ppl from Piper and recently poached Adam Bergman from DB.

can anyone comment on activity in this sector now and future? m&a? ecm?

 

Uh, I think you're wrong bm. The Energy group at MS is the one that actively participates in the cleantech sector, as evidenced by MS Energy's equity stake in a few cleantech-focused VCs. MS Tech M&A in Menlo solely does traditional tech deals (software, semiconductors, some web 2.0). The pure execution of cleantech deals is done in the energy group.

 

uh, i think you don't know what you're talking about ("as evidenced" by your post asking what tech M&A is). I don't know what you mean when you refer to MS Energy, maybe the houston group does some clean tech, although most is out of Menlo Park. but it seems like you're referring to some MS buy side fund which has nothing to do with executing deals besides its own purchases.

and why are you talking about M&A? they do M&A deals, but i just mentioned a private placement which clearly is not M&A.

 

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