UK impact-focused investment fund Bridges Evergreen has completed the sale of home energy efficiency company AgilityEco to infrastructure services provider M Group Services.
The sale generated a 3.4x return on Evergreen's investment and a 40% internal rate of return.
AgilityEco helps low-income households reduce their energy bills and carbon footprint by providing whole-of-house energy efficiency solutions, such as installing solar panels, insulation, and energy-efficient appliances. It also offers independent advice, nationwide installation capabilities, and delivery of services.
AgilityEco partners with various organizations, including energy companies, local authorities, social housing providers, private social enterprises, utility companies, and a broad network of installers.
Key clients include energy retailers such as British Gas, Scottish Power, Octopus Energy, Ovo Energy, National Grid, and local authorities including Portsmouth and Oxfordshire County Council.
Tom Biddle, partner at Bridges and head of Bridges Evergreen commented: ‘AgilityEco is exactly the type of business that Evergreen wants to partner with. It exists to tackle two of the greatest challenges facing the UK today: decarbonising our housing stock and lifting people out of fuel poverty. AgilityEco has also been a blueprint for Evergreen’s strategy of providing patient capital to support growing, highly impactful businesses to scale their outcomes and deliver attractive commercial returns.’
Sharon Johnson, CEO of AgilityEco added: ‘Our mission is to play a major role in eliminating fuel poverty and to help towards net zero. Evergreen’s investment has been key to accelerating our progress towards achieving that. Evergreen has provided strategic support and investment, as well as bringing invaluable experience of scaling businesses which are taking institutional capital for the first time and supporting successful founder transitions. We see this transaction as the next logical step in our strategy and our social and environmental mission.’
Andrew Findlay, M Group Services CEO, added: ‘The acquisition of AgilityEco represents an extension of our capabilities to deliver essential services to our existing energy and local authority clients. These services enable our clients to meet their regulatory obligations and support the delivery of their ambitious decarbonisation agendas. M Group Services is a recognised leader in the sector for our commitment to ESG. Our acquisition of AgilityEco reinforces this commitment, significantly enhancing our contribution towards achieving the UK’s net zero target.’
Since Evergreen invested in 2019, AgilityEco's revenue has tripled to over £100 mln (€116 mln) and it served over 36,000 households in 2022/23, saving them over £2,600 (€3,020) each on energy bills and reducing CO2 emissions by over 113,000 tonnes.
Arrowpoint Advisory, CMS, Baringa, KPMG, Liberty and CMS all advised on the transaction.
