Investec Bank Plc has provided a US$50 million loan to Rockland Capital LLC, a private equity firm specializing in acquisitions, distressed assets, capital restructuring, and management buyouts in clean energy and natural gas projects.

The loan will enable Rockland Capital's US$333 million private equity fund, Rockland Power Partners LP, to acquire and develop energy projects. The fund already has made investments in facilities in the U.S. in the biomass, coal, natural gas, oil and solar power industries.

Rockland Power Partners, L.P. is a sector fund specializing in buyouts and growth capital investments. The fund seeks to invest in the energy sector and power plants. The fund typically invests in Europe and North America.

In April 8, GE Energy Financial Service also provided a US$50 million loan to investment firm Rockland Capital, LLC to support its acquisition of the gas-fired Elgin Energy Center in Illinois.

Rockland Capital purchased the power generation facility, which sits on a 27-acre site 40 miles northwest of Chicago, as part of a larger acquisition earlier this year. The 484-megawatt Elgin peaking power plant, which sells its capacity into the PJM market, began operating in 2002 with four simple-cycle natural gas-fired turbines.

The Elgin Energy Center is part of a 1,166 MW portfolio of three Illinois power plants that Rockland Capital acquired from Ameren Corporation in January 2014. The transaction was the first acquisition for Rockland Power Partners II, a US$425 million investment fund that closed in December 2013.

Rockland Capital manages Rockland Power Partners II, Rockland Power Partners and Rockland Capital Energy Investments and has offices in Houston and New York.