Century City-based merchant bank Forest Road Co. launched a dedicated alternative energy investment arm on Thursday.

CenterNode, which the firm describes as an “opportunistic energy and infrastructure investment platform,” came out of the gate with up to $750 million in initial capital commitments from institutional investors, including Liberty Mutual Investments. 

At CenterNode’s helm will be veteran investment executive Seth Zeleznik, who served as managing director of Santa Monica-based alternative asset manager Irradiant Partners before its sale to an Apollo Global Management affiliate in early 2025. Following the acquisition, Zeleznik worked an eight-month gig as an adviser at Apollo. 

The hurting solar sector will be a primary target for capital deployment as CenterNode starts out, with other energy and infrastructure subsectors adding in as the platform scales.

Funds will flow to capital-starved solar developers and projects hit hard by the rollback of tax credits and tariffs from President Donald Trump’s administration, as well as stalled permitting. Installations tumbled 14% last year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s enactment and are expected to fall further through 2030, the Solar Energy Industries Association reports.

“The U.S. energy transition is entering its most capital-intensive phase at precisely the moment when traditional lenders have stepped back,” Zeleznik said in a news release. “We built CenterNode to be the flexible, institutional-grade capital partner that developers and project owners need right now – one that can move quickly, structure creatively, and execute with certainty.”

The firm says CenterNode’s structure will allow for fast capital deployment to developers racing to break ground ahead of the OBBBA’s July 4 deadline for long-term, higher tax credits.

‘Most consequential infrastructure’

Forest Road Chief Executive Zachary Tarica came out of renewable energy investing. He founded the firm a year after helping close Brookfield Asset Management’s landmark $7.9 billion acquisition of TerraForm’s solar and wind assets out of the SunEdison bankruptcy as the head of strategic renewables investments.

“The energy transition is the most consequential infrastructure build-out this country has undertaken in decades,” Tarica said in the release. “Getting the financing right – especially at the small and mid-market level – is not just a business opportunity. It is essential to keeping the U.S. competitive.”

Providing “fringe capital for smaller projects” struggling to secure financing through community banks or capital markets will be a focus, Tarica told the Financial Times.

Merchant banks like Forest Road typically invest in middle-market, private companies and sometimes advise them on complex financial decisions. Some operate similarly to private equity firms, but on a smaller scale.

In its early days, Forest Road made a name for itself lending against tax credits to capitalize film and television projects. It expanded in recent years to weave in renewable energy among a broad spectrum of industries.

Last summer, Reuters reported that Forest Road led an investor group courting OnlyFans owner Fenix International Ltd to sell the adult content creation platform for about $8 billion.