Vauban Infrastructure Partners has increased its share in French energy services firm Proxiserve to 99.7% with the acquisition of a 38.7% stake from an Asterion Industrial Partners fund.
Back in 2019, Vauban and Asterion’s Infrastructure Fund I acquired Proxiserve, a company that currently owns and operates over 4.5m water and heat meters. Since 2013, Proxiserve has also installed 125,000 electric vehicle charging stations.
Vauban has now invested an undisclosed sum on behalf of its fourth core infrastructure fund, CIF IV, to buy Asterion’s stake.
Vauban said it now has exclusive control over the company through its various investment funds under management, adding that the deal will enable Proxiserve to “accelerate its development in promising and added-value activities such as the operation of heat meters and heat pumps”.
Vincent Cassagne, investment director and partner at Vauban Infrastructure Partners, said: “The increase of Vauban’s stake in Proxiserve is in line with our first investment in the company in 2019.
“We consider that Proxiserve is not only aligned with Vauban’s ESG policy, but that the company also contributes to creating value over the long term. Proxiserve benefits from a balanced portfolio of businesses, cutting-edge technologies and a highly diversified client base with broad national coverage to provide sustainable services to all.”
Nicole Hildebrand, partner at Asterion Industrial Partners, said: “The growth of Proxiserve’s business over the last few years has been tremendous and Vauban and the company’s management team have played an instrumental role in developing Proxiserve into one of France’s leading energy services companies.
“We are leaving the company in the hands of a shareholder fully committed to the further growth of the business and its people.”
Stéphane Caine, chairman and CEO of Proxiserve, said: “We would like to thank Asterion and Vauban for supporting Proxiserve during what has been a turbulent time. Today, we are a company well positioned to seize the numerous growth opportunities offered by our underlying markets and we look forward to continuing our growth trajectory with Vauban, who has already proven to be of great value.”
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