The shift in energy production from predominantly fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable sources is an essential theme of our time. Since the Paris Climate Accords were adopted in 2015, renewable energy has become more important to governments and companies as they strive toward Net Zero.

These ambitious plans require both innovation and capital. The global private equity industry had what could be a record level of cash reserves available for buyouts and other investments as of December 2022, when firms collectively held an estimated $1.96 trillion in dry powder, according to Preqin Pro and S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The investment team at this private equity firm has 30 years of experience investing in the energy sector. The firm plans to leverage its long investment track record and deep networks to partner with traditional oil and gas players to help accelerate their journey toward a low-carbon future.

Pain Points

This customer manages private equity funds focusing on energy production, infrastructure, and related businesses. Currently focused on Italy, the UK, and the Nordics, the investment team needed to dig deep into specific - primarily private - companies to stay on top of developments within the firm’s existing portfolio, monitor trends, and identify attractive opportunities

In particular, the firm wanted to identify an information provider which could offer the following:

• Firm-wide access to third-party research providers. The firm needed to keep on top of industry trends and analysis.
• Improved private company data. The client focuses on companies with high growth potential in the private sector and needed additional insight.
• Wider access to a data platform. The customer wanted company-wide access for its investment team.
• Private Equity-specific data. The client also needed data on fundraising trends, Limited Partner (LP) – General Partner (GP) relationships, ‘dry powder’, and other private equity-specific data.
• Differentiated Energy sector coverage. Whether news or company information, the customer wanted more sector-specific content.
• Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data. The customer also wanted ESG data to add color to their research and complement the core company strategy.
• Assistance building models. The client wanted help from their provider in integrating the data into their models.
  
  

The Solution

Having diagnosed and discussed the customer’s pain points, we suggested an array of possible solutions. We put together a suite of S&P Global Market Intelligence products that addressed their pain points and ended up being able to provide a superior solution.

We began by describing the powerful S&P Capital IQ Pro desktop that combines an unrivaled breadth and depth of data, news, and research with tech-forward productivity tools. Including renowned company financial data (some energy sector-specific), GP and LP information, key developments, and more. S&P Global Market Intelligence then described our Aftermarket research and sustainability solutions, which are integrated into the S&P Capital IQ Pro platform.

Access to this rich offering would enable them to:

	Access data on public and private companies	The Premium Financials dataset provides standardized data for 5,000+ financial, supplemental, and industry-specific data items for 150,000+ companies globally, including 95,000+ active and inactive companies across multiple industries. Data is available at numerous frequencies and point-in-time representations of a financial period include press releases, original filings, and restatements. Private Company Data covers 50 million private companies around the globe, 10 million with financial statements, and 500,000+ early-stage companies supported by data from Crunchbase.
	Monitor private equity portfolios	iLEVEL, the transformational software solution that brings new transparency and insight to alternative investment portfolios, allows customers to create a single data source across their firm. iLEVEL helps GPs and LPs streamline data collection, portfolio monitoring, analytics, valuation, and reporting. In particular, customers can: Achieve data mastery – Collect and centralize critical information using leading data technology. Enhance LP relationships – Give investors precisely the data they need with advanced customizable reporting. Maximize insight – Visualize, analyze and report on portfolio performance using customizable, interactive dashboards. Transform fundraising – Respond to data requests efficiently and securely share materials with potential investors. Access expert help – Work with a trusted partner known for high-quality service and hundreds of successful implementations. Advance automation – Automate your manual reporting and data collection processes so you can focus on investment decision-making. Increase flexibility – Access your data however you want with a web-based platform, a unique Excel add-in, or an API.
	Gather industry intelligence	The Aftermarket Research collection features 30+ million reports from 1,800+ global investment research providers, including small- to middle-market brokers, to help customers gain essential perspectives on the companies, sectors, and industries they track. Customers can search on numerous fields, including analyst, keywords, industries, and page length. Searches can be saved for quick retrieval, and customers can learn about a report of interest before downloading, using precision search capabilities to evaluate: Relevancy: Locate relevant reports, ranked according to keyword search relevancy. Table of Contents: View each report’s page-by-page summary of sections and tables. Document Thumbnails: Preview the contents and layout of a report before downloading. Keywords in Context: Discover the context for a specific keyword or phrase of interest. Keyword searches also support synonyms and acronyms with keyword snippets and visualizations to quickly surface relevant research reports. Multi-Preview Options: Compare and contrast multiple reports using keyword mentions, table of contents, and report synopsis.
	Detailed Energy sector-specific data	Our S&P Capital IQ Pro platform provides extensive financials, comprehensive asset data, and vital insights on the global energy sector, covering 4,300+ public and 118,000+ private energy companies worldwide. Customers can: Drill down into global power plants and power generation data using our powerful mapping tool. Access our consensus estimates, commodity estimates, and prices to review the projected performance of energy companies and commodity prices. Account for physical risks in a company’s power plant, project pipeline, and other related energy infrastructure valuation workflows. Read deep, reliable, and targeted energy news. Our news team covers the latest developments impacting investor-owned utilities, renewable energy developers, and oil and gas companies to keep you informed about the energy sector across North America and Europe
	Leverage formulas and models	An Excel® Add-In and suite of Office 365 tools seamlessly power proprietary models and streamline presentations. Customers can access a library of hundreds of ready-to-use models and templates or partner with Market Intelligence’s support analysts to build their own. It is possible to integrate data from Excel to PowerPoint or Word with fewer mistakes and refresh formulas in Excel with just one click.

Key Benefits

S&P Capital IQ Pro platform provides the private equity investment team with the toolset they need to perform research and advise their clients.

Key benefits now include:

• Access to thousands of analyst reports from well-known brokerage houses and market research providers to obtain in-depth company and industry analyses. Thus, the customer can track energy and renewable trends in the public and private markets.
• iLEVEL portfolio monitoring automates and streamlines reporting, data collection, and analytical processes.
• S&P Capital IQ Pro’s Private Company Data provides regional granularity in the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Nordics – the three primary regions the firm does business.
• On-demand service and support are significant time savers for customers – instead of being left to find data on their own. Customers can reach out for support to help find reports and download and customize models.
• S&P Capital IQ Pro’s relationships with Preqin, Crunchbase, and CreditSafe provide significantly more private company profiles (52 million), Rounds of Funding Data, GP profiles, and Fund-Level metrics. These allow the customer to seamlessly drill down from the GP level to individual fund holdings and into S&P Capital IQ Pro’s company data.
• With differentiated Energy sector information, the customer can track and plot global power plant data using our mapping tool, one of our many differentiated sector-specific features.
• News. In addition to analyst reports, S&P Global news and datasets give customers history, point-in-time, sector-specific, and real-time insights—compiled from millions of hard-to-get, multinational sources.