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United Arab Emirates-based solar power projects operator Enviromena Power Systems (Enviromena) has been bought by UK-based Arjun Infrastructure Partners (AIP), the company announced on Wednesday.
Established in 2007, Enviromena is a developer and operator of clean energy solutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
AIP is an independent infrastructure investment advisory company which partners with pension funds to access direct infrastructure investments.
Sami Khoreibi, chief executive officer of Enviromena said the deal was closed this month, but he declined to comment on the amount paid for the company.
“We have been able to turnaround this transaction quickly…the clock started approximately three months ago,” Khoreibi said in a telephone interview with Thomson Reuters Projects on Wednesday.
He said the company “in its entirety has been acquired” by AIP, which bought out all of its investors including its largest shareholder Masdar, Good Energies, Zouk Ventures and New Energies Invest.
“However, the management team is staying on board; so organisationally, it is business as usual," Khoreib said. "We will continue to be focused on the MENA region.”
The company has over 175 MW worth of projects in operation and a further 500 MW under construction.
“The majority of these are utility-scale projects but we also have the largest portfolio of rooftop installations in the region,” Khoreibi said.
In 2009, Enviromena completed the Middle East’s first utility-scale solar PV power plant, a 10 megawatt system, at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
The company has also completed 35 rooftop installations across four countries, in addition to having completed 17,000 home solar systems across Egypt and Morocco.
Khoreibi said the acquisition by AIP opens “access to tens of billions of dollars pension fund capital” that will allow Enviromena “to deploy significant amounts of capital into the company and into renewable energy projects.”
“We were the first company to attract Tier 1 venture capital into a renewable energy company in the region.” he said. “What we are seeing now with AIP is a new form of long-term investor.”
Khoreibi said he expected “continued growth in the traditional EPC business of building and operating utility-scale solar power plants.”
On the other hand, an accelerated ramp-up, with the new shareholder base coming into play, will see Enviromena “deploying capital to develop net metering opportunities in the commercial/industrial space in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan.”
“We are not only going to build and operate plants but also own such assets as well,” Khoreibi said.
These would include utility-scale solar-diesel hybrid plants, as well as energy storage projects.
He said that two segments of the business – EPC and net metering - are expected to catch up to each other in the coming years.
“Over the next couple of years, we would like to see ourselves being able to deploy more than 100 megawatts per annum of solar over a ramp-up period. We expect double-digit revenue and net income growth year-on-year for the next few years,” Khoreibi said.
In an official statement, Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said the acquisition by AIP is expected to help catalyse the Abu Dhabi renewable energy sector, and that Masdar looks forward to continued collaboration with Enviromena on renewable projects throughout the region.
Surinder Toor, founding partner of AIP, said in the statement that his firm sees Enviromena as "the ideal platform to facilitate our strategy to deploy capital into renewable assets.”
For more data, analytics, tools and news on projects in the Middle East visit the Thomson Reuters Projects portal.
(Reporting by Anoop Menon; Editing by Michael Fahy)
(anoop.menon@thomsonreuters.com) © ZAWYA 2017
Established in 2007, Enviromena is a developer and operator of clean energy solutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
AIP is an independent infrastructure investment advisory company which partners with pension funds to access direct infrastructure investments.
Sami Khoreibi, chief executive officer of Enviromena said the deal was closed this month, but he declined to comment on the amount paid for the company.
“We have been able to turnaround this transaction quickly…the clock started approximately three months ago,” Khoreibi said in a telephone interview with Thomson Reuters Projects on Wednesday.
He said the company “in its entirety has been acquired” by AIP, which bought out all of its investors including its largest shareholder Masdar, Good Energies, Zouk Ventures and New Energies Invest.
“However, the management team is staying on board; so organisationally, it is business as usual," Khoreib said. "We will continue to be focused on the MENA region.”
The company has over 175 MW worth of projects in operation and a further 500 MW under construction.
“The majority of these are utility-scale projects but we also have the largest portfolio of rooftop installations in the region,” Khoreibi said.
In 2009, Enviromena completed the Middle East’s first utility-scale solar PV power plant, a 10 megawatt system, at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
The company has also completed 35 rooftop installations across four countries, in addition to having completed 17,000 home solar systems across Egypt and Morocco.
Khoreibi said the acquisition by AIP opens “access to tens of billions of dollars pension fund capital” that will allow Enviromena “to deploy significant amounts of capital into the company and into renewable energy projects.”
“We were the first company to attract Tier 1 venture capital into a renewable energy company in the region.” he said. “What we are seeing now with AIP is a new form of long-term investor.”
Khoreibi said he expected “continued growth in the traditional EPC business of building and operating utility-scale solar power plants.”
On the other hand, an accelerated ramp-up, with the new shareholder base coming into play, will see Enviromena “deploying capital to develop net metering opportunities in the commercial/industrial space in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan.”
“We are not only going to build and operate plants but also own such assets as well,” Khoreibi said.
These would include utility-scale solar-diesel hybrid plants, as well as energy storage projects.
He said that two segments of the business – EPC and net metering - are expected to catch up to each other in the coming years.
“Over the next couple of years, we would like to see ourselves being able to deploy more than 100 megawatts per annum of solar over a ramp-up period. We expect double-digit revenue and net income growth year-on-year for the next few years,” Khoreibi said.
In an official statement, Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said the acquisition by AIP is expected to help catalyse the Abu Dhabi renewable energy sector, and that Masdar looks forward to continued collaboration with Enviromena on renewable projects throughout the region.
Surinder Toor, founding partner of AIP, said in the statement that his firm sees Enviromena as "the ideal platform to facilitate our strategy to deploy capital into renewable assets.”
For more data, analytics, tools and news on projects in the Middle East visit the Thomson Reuters Projects portal.
(Reporting by Anoop Menon; Editing by Michael Fahy)
(anoop.menon@thomsonreuters.com) © ZAWYA 2017
