Staff Writer
Private equity firm, Eos Capital has announced that it will acquire Utility Energy Partners’ solar and refrigeration assets subject to regulatory approval.
Energy Partners is an innovative energy infrastructure company that builds, operates, and maintains solar and refrigeration assets in Namibia.
“Through their innovative business model, Energy Partners provides an energy solution to clients which reduces their grid energy consumption through its solar installations and optimisation of their freon/ammonia cooling systems combined with the use of world-leading monitoring technologies. Energy Partners additionally reduces their clients’ CAPEX burden by taking on all the construction costs and leasing the assets to their clients with long-term agreements,” Eos said.
Eos is making the acquisition through its Namibia Infrastructure Development and Investment Fund, an N$535 million infrastructure private equity fund.
“NIDIF invests into infrastructure projects in Namibia through equity funding with the aim of generating long-term, stable and robust income yields, as well as capital growth, to its investors. The fund’s main target sectors include Energy, Water, ICT, Transport and Logistics, Healthcare, Education. Eos is also managing the N$460 million Allegrow Fund, a general private equity fund, and is currently fundraising for the Euphrates Agri Fund,” company said.
Henk van der Merwe, Energy Partner’s CEO, says, “We are excited to start our new journey in partnership with Eos Capital. Having a local, forward thinking shareholder with sufficient capital to grow this business will enable us to add more attractive Namibian assets to our portfolio, benefiting clients across the country.”
Frederico van Wyk, Eos’ Senior Associate leading the transaction commented, “We invested into this business as we found that they have stable, consistent cashflows, which speaks directly to our mandate in NIDIF. The level of innovation Energy Partners has shown in the refrigeration industry is pioneering as they have optimised the use of cooling to be more energy efficient for Namibian businesses. We further saw good growth potential in both the solar and refrigeration industries which was validated by management’s existing project pipeline. Lastly, we are very excited to play our role in replacing high carbon grid energy with clean renewable energy through efficiently operating solar and refrigeration assets, respectively.”
