Gresham House Renewable Energy VCT 1 and Gresham House Renewable Energy VCT 2 have exited their nvestments in ChargePoint Services Ltd (CPS) via a trade sale to Engie as part of the French utility’s buyout of 100 per cent of CPS.
The exit will generate a total rate of return to shareholders of 11.9 per cent per year based on the initial purchase consideration, rising to 13.2 per cent per year if all future tranches of the purchase consideration, linked to CPS’ future performance, are received.
The Gresham House VCTs invested GBP1 million (GBP0.5 million per VCT) in CPS in 2016 in the form of equity and a senior, secured debt instrument. CPS is a provider of integrated electric vehicle charging solutions in the UK which uses proprietary and best of breed end-to-end technology for public, workplace and private sector electric vehicle (EV) charging.
Engie is the second-largest provider of EV charging stations around the world. Through this deal Engie will add ChargePoint Service’s 900 public and workplace EV charge points, as well as its 20,000-strong customer base and cloud-based data and control platform.
Following the VCTs two top-ups last year, the Gresham House investment team is actively looking for new opportunities to put capital to work, in companies in the clean technology space and seeking to help the UK’s transition to becoming a low-carbon economy.
Bozkurt Aydinoglu, Investment Director at Gresham House and co-manager of the VCTs, says: “CPS successfully capitalised on the need in the UK for a roll-out of EV charging points in suitable locations, by forging partnerships with site owners and delivering a fast turnkey EV charging solution. We are delighted that the VCTs’ first investment in this space, has delivered a strong risk-adjusted return for shareholders.”
The Gresham House VCTs were launched by Gresham House New Energy (formerly Hazel Capital LLP) in 2010. GBP41.6 million was raised between 2010 and 2011 representing the most successful ever launch by a new entrant to the VCT market. The Gresham House VCTs are ranked best in class’ when compared to all other VCT offerings launched in 2010/2011 and have the highest total return metrics of any non-AIM VCT launched in the last ten years (at 161.1 and 159.8 pence per share for Gresham House Renewable Energy VCT 1 and Gresham House Renewable Energy VCT 2 respectively). These returns exclude the 30 per cent VCT tax rebate available to UK tax payers. Last year in December 2018, the VCTs paid a dividend of 6 pence, bringing the total dividend payments, to shareholders who invested at launch, to 45 pence.
