Jasper Jolly 

Good Energy agrees near-£100m takeover by UAE-linked firm

Esyasoft to acquire UK company, which supplies renewable power to about 245,000 households and businesses
  
  

Installing solar panels
Good Energy supplies renewable energy to homes, as well as installing solar panels, heat pumps and batteries. Photograph: Kristian Buus/10:10/PA

A British green electricity supplier, Good Energy, has agreed a near-£100m takeover by a company controlled by a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family.

The retail energy company said on Monday it had agreed a deal with the Dubai-headquartered Esyasoft for a cash offer of £4.90 a share, valuing it at £99.4m.

The share price of Good Energy, listed on London’s junior Alternative Investment Market, rose by a fifth on Monday to £4.78. The offer was two-thirds higher than Good Energy’s share price on the day before Esyasoft’s interest was first revealed in October.

Good Energy serves about 245,000 household and business customers in the UK, providing 100% renewable electricity as well as specialising in letting users sell solar power back to the grid. It also installs solar panels and heat pumps.

Esyasoft is ultimately controlled by the Abu Dhabi International Holding Company (IHC), the investment company chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the son of the United Arab Emirates’ founder, and part of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family.

IHC owns companies involved in oil and gas drilling and distribution, including servicing the huge growth of the US shale gas industry. However, IHC also counts solar power among its investments and Esyasoft focuses on power distribution technology.

The takeover would give a windfall to the energy entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince, whose holding company Green Britain Group is the largest shareholder in Good Energy, with a 26% stake.

Good Energy was founded in 1999 by Juliet Davenport, who left the company in 2021 and offered her backing for the deal. The investment would give the “opportunity to scale the Good Energy propositions” and “make a real difference to climate change”, she said.

Among the other shareholders is Martin Edwards, who joined in 2002 when Good Energy bought a windfarm the Edwards family had developed. Edwards has a 7.3% stake in the business, while Davenport holds 2.7% of the shares, according to Reuters.

“I founded Good Energy 25 years ago to be a pioneer in the provision of clean power to all customers in the UK,” Davenport said. “The energy industry back then was very different, founded around fossil fuels and designed to be a centralised system.”

The deal will be subject to a shareholder vote after the Good Energy board recommended it. If the takeover goes ahead, Esyasoft said it would spend six months working out a long-term strategy for the company, but: “Good Energy Group would continue to operate in materially the same way without significant disruption to its business or operations.”

However, it also said it wanted to expand Good Energy’s solar installation and maintenance business, sell its services internationally and try to make the electric car charger app Zapmap profitable.

Nigel Pocklington, who took over as chief executive from Davenport, said the deal would provide a “partner that shares our sustainable energy vision and has the resources to accelerate our purpose substantially”, including by operating in new markets in which Esyasoft already works.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*