circular economy

In brief: TPG Rise Climate acquires gas company from KKR

A-Gas, acquired by KKR’s fourth European buyout fund in 2017, supplies refrigerant gases and manages their lifecycle, including recovery, re-use and disposal.

-

TPG Rise Climate has acquired a majority stake in a supplier of refrigerant gases from KKR. The company, A-Gas, supplies gas compounds used in refrigeration and air conditioning such as hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and hydrofluoro-olefin (HFO).  

Both compound types are greenhouse gases. HFC gases are the most widely used, while HFO gases are a newer alternative with a lower environmental impact. 

A-Gas also works in lifecycle management of these products, including “safe disposal” and “gas recovery and reclamation”, according to a statement from TPG.  

The reclamation “prevents the common venting of used refrigerant gases into the atmosphere at their end-of-life, which can have a global warming potential that is several thousand times higher than that of emitting CO2”, Joerg Metzner, a business unit partner at TPG Rise Climate, said in the statement.  

The company generates carbon credits from these avoided emissions. 

KKR’s European Fund IV acquired a majority stake in A-Gas in 2017. The company has now sold a majority stake to TPG’s Rise Climate fund, which closed in 2021 at $7.3 billion. KKR retains a minority interest in the company.

Over KKR’s ownership period, A-Gas’s revenue grew by 14 percent and its EBITDA by 18 percent annually.