AES Corporation and Alberta Investment Management (AIMCo) have agreed to acquire US-based independent renewable energy developer FTP Power (sPower), for $1.58bn.

As per the terms of the agreement, AES and AIMCo will each independently own a stake of just under 50% in sPower from Fir Tree Partners and its minority owners.

The deal includes $853m in cash and the assumption of $724m in non-recourse debt.

sPower has 1,274MW of solar and wind projects in operation or under construction and a development pipeline of more than 10,000MW located in the US.

The company's projects under construction and its operating assets are under long term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with an average remaining life of 21 years.

AES president and CEO Andrés Gluski said: “sPower not only brings 1.3GW of installed capacity with an average remaining contract life of more than 20 years, but a first class management and development team with a pipeline of more than 10 GW of projects.”

Scheduled to be completed by the third quarter of 2017, the transaction is subject to review or approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, among others.

AIMCo CEO Kevin Uebelein said: “AIMCo is excited to acquire an approximate 50% interest in sPower, on behalf of our clients and consistent with our investment mandate, and in partnership with AES.”

sPower board chairman and founder of Fir Tree Partners Jeffrey Tannenbaum said: “AES and AIMCo are the right partners to support the company’s continued evolution and ambitious goals for clean energy development, job creation, and greenhouse gas reductions.”

AES expects the acquisition to grow its renewable energy projects, including hydro, wind, solar and energy storage, in operation and under construction from 8.2GW to 9.5GW.