Energia bid interest ranges from Japanese trading firm to private equity

Irish Times

3 days ago

The US owner of
Energia
received several first-round bids in advance of a deadline on Friday, after fielding interest from everyone from a Japanese trading company to North American private equity firms, said sources.
New York-based investment firm
I Squared Capital
, which bought Energia, then known as Viridian Group, in 2016, pressed the start button on the long-awaited sale of the Irish electricity and gas utility in late March. The business is expected to achieve an enterprise value of €2.75 billion.
Itochu Corporation, a Japanese trading company that is involved in businesses spanning textiles to energy and chemicals,
US private equity giant KKR
, and the
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
are among parties that have been running the rule over Energia, according to sources.
Australian financial services group
Macquarie
is also among the companies that have been circling the business, said the sources.
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Spokeswomen for I Squared, KKR and Canadian pensions group and a spokesman for Energia declined to comment. It was not possible to secure comment from Itochu outside normal business hours in Japan, while a representative for Macquarie did not provide comment when contacted .
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Reuters reported in recent days on the interest of Itochu and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, which, it said, may ultimately team up with a UK electricity group in which it has a stake, Octopus Energy. It also said that Czech energy group EPH, French private equity firm Ardian and Spanish infrastructure investor Asterion were carrying out work on Energia with a view to making a bid.
I Squared, founded 13 years ago by former executives at Morgan Stanley's infrastructure arm, acquired Energia in 2016 from Bahrain's Arcapita Bank for €1 billion. Arcapita had owned the business for almost a decade.
The US firm subsequently sold a minority stake in Energia to an unknown investor the following year and set up a holding company over the business in the Cayman Islands.
I Squared has made two unsuccessful efforts to sell the company before now, in 2018 and 2020.
Energia, led by chief executive Ian Thom
, reported in March that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) dipped to €238.3 million for the nine months to the end of December from €246.7 million for the same period in the previous fiscal year.
The three parts of Energia's business – renewable energy, a flexible electricity generation business and a unit supplying customers – have proven to be complementary in recent years despite upheaval across energy markets.
An Bord Pleanála
gave Energia permission in March to build a data centre in Huntstown, Co Dublin, in partnership with tech giant Microsoft, adding to the investment case for potential suitors. Energia also has a solar energy pipeline of more than 1,200MW.