Global Infrastructure Partners and EQT agree to buy AES for $15 a share

Global Infrastructure Partners, together with EQT Infrastructure VI and co‑investors including CalPERS and the Qatar Investment Authority, agreed to acquire The AES Corporation for $15.00 a share in cash in a deal that values AES’ equity at $10.7 billion and its enterprise value at approximately $33.4 billion, the consortium said. The buyers said they will fund 100 percent of the purchase price with equity and expect the transaction to close in late 2026 or early 2027.

The consortium’s announcement listed the $33.4 billion figure as inclusive of assumed debt. Independent reporting of AES’ balance sheet points to roughly $22.7 billion of net debt, which aligns arithmetically with the stated equity and enterprise values. The deal, the consortium said, is intended to accelerate AES’ growth as a large clean energy platform across the Americas and to back one of the sector’s bigger development pipelines.

AES is a U.S.-based power company with a generation fleet spanning solar, wind, hydro, natural gas, coal and battery storage and with utility operations that include AES Indiana and AES Ohio. Legal counsel to the buyers was Kirkland & Ellis; J.P. Morgan Securities and Wells Fargo Securities provided fairness opinions for AES, the companies disclosed. The transaction package names AES as a major corporate supplier of renewables, noting that the company has 11.8 GW of signed power purchase agreements to supply technology and industrial customers.

Financial markets reacted sharply. AES shares plunged more than 17 percent in early trading to their lowest level since late January, reflecting investor uncertainty about price benchmarks and the move from public to private ownership. The consortium said its $15 offer represents a 40.3 percent premium to the 30‑day volume weighted average price before July 8, 2025. Market observers pointed to alternate baselines: the deal equates to a roughly 35.5 percent premium to the July 8 close and about a 13 percent discount to AES’ last close immediately before the announcement, depending on the reference price used.

The sale agreement includes reciprocal termination fees. Under the terms disclosed, the consortium would pay between $100 million and about $588 million in certain scenarios, while AES would owe roughly $321 million under specified conditions. Those figures reflect the written deal mechanics and may be further clarified when regulatory filings and the definitive merger agreement are published.

The consortium said the acquisition is not expected to change customer rates at AES’ regulated utilities, which will remain subject to local, state and federal regulators and will continue to be locally operated and managed. Evercore ISI analyst Nicholas Amicucci said the buyout will allow AES to tap longer-term private capital and relieve the company of public-market leverage metrics, improving its ability to invest.

The transaction is one of the larger recent deals in power and utilities and underscores growing private capital interest in energy infrastructure and the transition to renewables. Regulators and investors will be watching the companies’ filings and the consortium’s post-close capital plan for signals on spending, dividend policy and how the consortium intends to deploy AES’ development pipeline.