Gresham House plans to raise £200m (€226.1m) by floating an energy storage fund on the London Stock Exchange.
The specialist alternatives asset manager intends to launch an initial public offering for Gresham House Energy Storage Fund and list its shares early next month. The fund will provide utility-scale energy storage systems to the national grid.
The manager said the fund has received cornerstone investment of more than £30m, from the management team and institutional investors.
The fund will be managed by the New Energy division of Gresham House Asset Management, the specialist renewable and storage asset manager owned by Gresham House.
Rupert Robinson, the managing director of Gresham House Asset Management, said: “We are excited to bring this opportunity to invest in energy storage systems to institutional and high net worth investors.
“What will set the Fund apart is the proven expertise of the management team in this highly specialist sector and the cornerstone investment of more than £30m, from the management team and institutional investors.”
The seed portfolio comprises 70MW across five fully operational sites.
“We are confident that we can deploy up to £200m in a tangible pipeline within 12 months of IPO.”
Ben Guest, the head of Gresham House New Energy, said: “The UK energy storage market is set for significant growth. However, the total potential of energy storage is currently limited by a lack of experienced operators, and this problem will only intensify, with demand for storage rapidly increasing as the deployment of renewable energy installations continues apace and the traditional coal and gas-fired generation is retired.
“We believe energy storage has significant potential from an institutional investment standpoint and is the key to a renewable energy future in the UK.”
Early last year, the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund acquired a 20% stake in Gresham House and backed the asset manager’s British Strategic Investment Fund.
