Deal Timeline

Plotted by close date where disclosed, otherwise announcement. Select any marker to jump to the deal entry.

The Acquisition Playbook.

Three patterns run through CMS ENERGY's acquisitions — what it looks for, how it pays, and how it folds in what it buys.

01
Acquisition criteria
Buy generation, don't build it, to bridge the coal exit.
Consumers Energy's one material acquisition of the era was an existing, already-interconnected gas plant rather than a greenfield build. Acquiring the 1,176-MW Covert combined-cycle station gave Consumers dispatchable capacity to replace retiring coal units while it scaled solar and wind, avoiding the cost and lead time of new construction.
New Covert Generating Facility (Covert Generating Station)Aviator Wind (51% majority stake)Gratiot Farms Wind ProjectNorthwest Ohio Wind Project
02
Capital deployment
A utility defined by divestitures, not acquisitions.
CMS Energy's corporate history runs the opposite direction from a serial acquirer: through the 2000s it sold off most of its non-utility and international assets, and it divested EnerBank USA to Regions Bank in 2021 and the Palisades nuclear plant in 2006. Acquisitions are the exception, made only when they directly serve the regulated Michigan utility.
New Covert Generating Facility (Covert Generating Station)Aviator Wind (51% majority stake)Gratiot Farms Wind ProjectNorthwest Ohio Wind Project
03
Integration approach
Regulatory approval is the deal, not just a formality.
As a regulated utility, Consumers' Covert purchase was conditioned on FERC and Michigan Public Service Commission approval, Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance and MISO reconnection — a roughly two-year gap between the June 2021 signing and the May 2023 close. Asset deals here live or die on the regulatory record, not on bid-ask negotiation.
New Covert Generating Facility (Covert Generating Station)Aviator Wind (51% majority stake)Gratiot Farms Wind ProjectNorthwest Ohio Wind Project

The Full Deal Book

4 acquisitions — each with the deal value, financing structure, target revenue, and executive commentary where disclosed.

01 New Covert Generating Facility (Covert Generating Station) · Van Buren County, Michigan $810M
Announced Jun 2021 Closed May 2023 All cash
1176-MW natural gas-fired combined cycle generationdispatchable baseload/peaking capacityMidcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) interconnection

A 1,176-megawatt (1,200-MW nameplate) natural gas-fired combined cycle generating plant located in Van Buren County, Michigan, purchased by Consumers Energy from New Covert Generating Company, LLC, a non-affiliated company. Consumers signed the Purchase and Sale Agreement on June 21, 2021 and completed the purchase in May 2023 for $810 million, with an additional $2 million paid in August 2023 under a post-closing working capital adjustment. The acquisition was a centerpiece of Consumers Energy's Clean Energy Plan to exit coal generation, adding dispatchable natural gas capacity to bridge the transition.

Why it was attractive
  • An existing
  • already-interconnected combined-cycle gas plant gave Consumers dispatchable capacity to replace retiring coal units (Campbell
  • Karn) without building new generation
  • supporting reliability through the coal-to-clean transition
We are proud to lead Michigan's clean energy transformation and be one of the first utilities in the country to end coal use. We are committed to being a force of change and good stewards of our environment, producing reliable, affordable energy for our customers while caring for our communities during this transition.Garrick Rochow — President and CEO, Consumers Energy
02 Aviator Wind (51% majority stake) · Coke County, Texas, United States Not disclosed
Announced Jul 2020 Closed Jul 2020 Purchase of a 51% majority equity stake from funds managed by Ares Management Corporation; asset operated by subsidiary CMS Enterprises.

CMS Energy purchased a majority (51%) stake in Aviator Wind, a 525-megawatt wind energy project in Coke County, Texas, roughly 250 miles southwest of Dallas. The stake was acquired from funds managed by Ares Management Corporation's Infrastructure and Power strategy, which constructed and managed the project. The facility, operated by CMS Energy subsidiary CMS Enterprises, supplies clean energy committed to Facebook and McDonald's under their corporate renewable-energy goals.

03 Gratiot Farms Wind Project · Gratiot County, Michigan, United States Not disclosed
Announced Jun 2018 Closed Jun 2018 Development Asset Acquisition agreement

Consumers Energy, the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy, entered into a development-asset acquisition agreement to own, construct and operate the Gratiot Farms Wind Project, then being developed by Tradewind Energy. Located in North Shade and New Haven Townships in Gratiot County, Michigan, the project was planned for up to 75 turbines and a capacity of up to 150 megawatts. Consumers Energy acquired the development package and would manage construction, with Tradewind continuing development work (studies, permits, real estate) to the construction stage.

04 Northwest Ohio Wind Project · Northwest Ohio, United States Not disclosed
Announced Jun 2018 Closed Jun 2018 Agreement for CMS Enterprises to purchase the near-complete project from subsidiaries of Starwood Energy Group Global; CMS Enterprises finishes construction and owns/operates the facility.

CMS Enterprises, a subsidiary of CMS Energy, signed an agreement to purchase the 105-megawatt Northwest Ohio Wind project once construction was nearly complete. The project, spanning roughly 10,000 acres, was under construction by subsidiaries of Starwood Energy Group Global, with completion expected by fall 2018. CMS Enterprises would finish construction and then own and operate the facility, committing its renewable output to General Motors under a 15-year renewable energy purchase agreement.

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