SUSI Partners has acquired a majority stake in Italian energy service company Genera Group.

The investment was made on behalf of the SUSI Energy Transition Fund, an evergreen vehicle that held its first close in July 2020, raising €300m.

SUSI Partners said it was its first equity investment in energy-efficiency market, having so far invested €400m exclusively through its credit platform.

Genera Group is headquartered in Rome and headed by founder Filippo Ghirelli.

SUSI Partners will help the company secure and build out its project pipeline, implementing a variety of energy-saving technologies, including LED lighting, combined heat and power facilities as well as building retrofits, among others.

The SUSI Energy Transition Fund invests in sustainable energy infrastructure with the aim to decarbonise energy production, increase the energy efficiency of existing infrastructure and enable the use and expansion of integrated clean-energy solutions.

SUSI Partners said energy-efficiency measures were “an important pillar of the investment strategy, as they represent a financially attractive and cost-efficient way to reduce CO2 emissions while enabling customers to reduce energy costs and enhance productivity”.