Ancala Partners has secured £551m (€643.4m) from institutional investors in Europe, North America and Asia to invest in its UK portfolio companies Portsmouth Water, Biogen and Leep Utilities.
Ancala said the capital raised for the Ancala Essential Growth Infrastructure Fund (growth fund) will help expand and accelerate the businesses’ energy-transition strategy.
Ancala acquired Portsmouth Water in 2018 via Ancala Infrastructure Fund I. The infrastructure manager said the growth fund will provide the UK water company with £120m to help finance the construction of the UK’s first major new reservoir since the 1980s.
Part of the capital from the growth fund will also support the company to further enhance the efficiency and resilience of water supplies in the region. Earlier this year, Ancala said it was investing a further £150m in Portsmouth Water to help build Havant Thicket Reservoir, a reservoir in western South East England.
Portsmouth Water will also use some of the growth fund’s money to further enhance the efficiency and resilience of water supplies in the region, Ancala said.
The growth fund will support Biogen’s plan of acquiring complementary sites and investing in technologies, Ancala said. The anaerobic digestion platform acquired by the Ancala fund in April 2017 currently owns 14 anaerobic digestion plants across England, Wales and Scotland.
The infrastructure manager said the growth fund will also help Leep Utilities to deliver on its order book and roll out new sites across the UK, ”along with further investment into its decarbonised heat initiatives”. Leep Utilities, formed by the Ancala fund and The Peel Group in 2017, owns and operates last-mile utility networks across the UK.
Spence Clunie, managing partner, Ancala Partners, said: “Our growth fund represents our continued commitment to supporting the expansion plans of our portfolio businesses and the solutions they provide, including contributing towards the energy transition.”
Louise Manfredi, CEO, Leep Utilities, said: “Ancala’s growth fund provides us with added firepower to pursue our expansion plans and explore more sustainable-energy solutions.
“The Ancala team has been a major supporter of Leep’s move into decarbonising heat and continues to take a highly proactive role in helping us to identify strategic partnerships and opportunities that help our plans.”
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