Capital Power Corp. agreed to buy two US natural gas-fired power plants in a $1.1 billion deal that’s partly backed by BlackRock Inc. and would make the Canadian company one of North America’s largest generators.

BlackRock and Capital Power are forming a 50/50 partnership to buy the Harquahala generating facility in Arizona, and the Canadian company also is buying the La Paloma generating facility in California, according to a statement Monday. Capital Power is partly financing the deal with a C$300 million ($218 million) public bought offering and a C$100 million private placement with provincial pension fund manager Alberta Investment Management Corp.

Capital Power, based in Edmonton, Alberta, is gaining 1.6 gigawatts of gas-fired generation capacity in the US, making it North America’s fifth-largest operator of that type of power production. The purchase from Beal Financial Corp.’s CSG Investments Inc. is expected to add to Capital Power’s adjusted funds from operations in the first full year of ownership.

Canadian energy companies have been snapping up assets south of the border to bolster their growth. Pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. in September agreed to buy three utilities from Dominion Energy Inc. in a $9.4 billion deal to create North America’s largest natural gas provider.