Stockholm (NordSIP) – Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G Plc, announced the acquisition of a 63% majority stake in Fortum Recharge, a leading public electric vehicle (EV) charge point operator (CPO) in the Nordics.
According to Infracapital, Fortum Recharge is the largest CPO in the Nordics, owning close to 1,300 public charging points and operating an additional 1,400 charging points in Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Infracapital will form a new corporate partnership with Fortum, who retain their minority share in the business. EVs is expected to play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions and the Nordic EV market is among the most advanced and fastest-growing markets globally, with EV stocks expected to reach 6 million units by 2030 across the region. In Norway, the market share of EV as a percentage of newly registered vehicles has already surpassed internal combustion engine vehicles and the country is targeting new sales of zero-emissions cars by 2025.
“Infracapital is committed to supporting Europe’s transition to a low-carbon economy while delivering value and sustainable growth for our investors,” Christophe Bordes (Pictured), Managing Director at Infracapital added. “It is clear that EV will play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions and we are thrilled to have secured a high-quality scalable entry point into this market, working with Fortum, a leading clean-energy partner with a significant local presence and growth potential.”
The investment was conducted through Infracapital Partners III and was its fifth standalone investment. The partnership will create a shared ownership structure designed to accelerate Fortum Recharge’s growth plans in the public CPO market. Fortum will continue to own and offer its leading mobility services for digital public charging, as well as home and destination charging services under its Charge&Drive and Plugsurfing brands. Fortum will also continue to offer software as a service (SaaS) for operating EV charging infrastructure networks and customer interfaces to other CPOs.
“This is a great opportunity to partner with Infracapital, which allows us to grow Recharge substantially,” Arun Aggarwal, SVP, Business Technology at Fortum, said. “For Fortum, this is also a success story as it proves the value of the market-leading Nordic charging services we have built over recent years. Together with Infracapital, we look forward to realising the full potential of Fortum Recharge in this high-growth sector.”
Image by Markus Distelrath from Pixabay
