Renewable energies are currently in high demand among investors.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The North German biogas and electricity producer Energielenker Green Energy is for sale. The parent company Energielenker Group has commissioned the consulting and auditing company PwC to find a buyer. People familiar with the matter reported this to the Handelsblatt. The first bids in the sales process known as “Project Greenlight” are due at the end of October.
In the event of a deal, energy leader Green Energy could benefit from the currently high energy prices and the growing interest of investors in renewable energies. The company can therefore be valued at 400 to 500 million euros, it said.
Financial investors in particular are interested in taking over the company and then making money available for investments in order to benefit from the expected boom in demand, the insiders report. The company confirmed that it had initiated an investor process for its biogas division. “We are still at the very beginning here,” said a spokeswoman. PwC declined to comment.
Energielenker is one of the largest biogas producers in Germany
Biogas is created when organic waste, liquid manure or energy crops are decomposed in the absence of air. It can either be burned to generate electricity or, by separating the carbon dioxide and other gases, refined into biomethane that can be fed into the natural gas grid.
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The Energielenker Group from Münster, founded by entrepreneurs Bernd Hugenroth and Tobias Dollberg, advises municipalities and companies on projects in the areas of photovoltaics, electromobility, biogas, urban development and digitization.
The company started in 2012 with the development and operation of combined heat and power plants that burn biomethane. It is now one of the largest operators of biogas and biomethane plants in Germany. At the beginning of 2021, the Bremen investor FMC acquired a 75 percent stake.
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The company is now putting its portfolio of 45 operating and ten planned biogas plants up for sale. According to financial circles, the existing systems together have a capacity of 60 megawatts, with nine systems being able to be flexibly switched on and off. This allows them to deliver electricity during peak consumption times when prices are at their highest. A further ten plants can convert the biogas into biomethane by separating carbon dioxide.
According to financial circles, energy leader Green Energy expects an operating profit (Ebitda) of 55 million euros for 2023 with revenues of 120 million euros. In 2020, the company reported sales of 72 million.
Some potential bidders consider the profit expectations to be ambitious and see 40 million as realistic. Financial investors such as Antin, DIF, ICG or I Squared are considered interested parties. For competitors such as the EnBW subsidiary VNG with its own biogas platform, individual locations are of interest, but the company as a whole is less interesting.
High demand for solar and wind parks
Providers of biogas, wind power and solar companies are currently benefiting from the high demand for CO2-free energy production due to the state-driven energy transition. By 2030, the traffic light government wants to quadruple the output of German wind turbines at sea alone. In this year, the solar park developer Kronos in Germany was sold to the Portuguese EDP and Zolar GmbH to investor Energy Impact Partners.
A few more deals are currently in preparation. According to financial sources, the Baden-Württemberg utility EnBW has put up for sale a 49 percent stake in its 900-megawatt He Dreiht offshore wind farm, which is worth up to two billion euros. First-round bids were due this month, and final bids are expected before Christmas.
According to financial sources, the Spanish energy group Iberdrola has started an auction for a share in its 500 megawatt offshore wind farm Baltic Eagle. The first offers are due in early November, according to several people familiar with the transaction. Iberdrola and EnBW declined to comment.
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In both cases, financial investors are particularly interested. However, the currently financially strong oil companies, which have promised their investors to invest more in renewable energies, are also possible buyers.
Industrial groups also occasionally secure their energy requirements through their own investments. Last year, for example, BASF bought a 49.5 percent stake in the Dutch 1,500-megawatt Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm from Vattenfall, but has now passed on half of this stake to Allianz.
In Germany, a change of ownership is also in the offing at the wind farm developer PNE. The company confirmed last week that 40 percent owner Morgan Stanley was in talks with potential buyers of the stake.
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