Impact Bridge participates in the financing of Visalia’s acquisition of Barter

Impact Bridge, a Spanish impact investment manager, has participated in the financing of Visalia’s acquisition of Barter through a €10 million investment. This financing enables Visalia to consolidate its position as one of the leading players in distributed generation in Spain and to guarantee universal access to local renewable energy for citizens and small businesses with fewer resources, especially those living in rental housing or in community buildings, without requiring any upfront investment, roof ownership, or long-term commitments.

Barter is a platform specialized in the development and operation of solar neighborhoods under a shared self-consumption scheme, based on photovoltaic installations on urban rooftops. Its model allows households, homeowners’ associations, SMEs and local entities to benefit from locally generated renewable energy without making investments, removing economic and technical barriers to access renewable energy in urban environments.

Currently, Barter manages more than 330 shared self-consumption solar neighborhoods, with an aggregated installed capacity exceeding 35 MWp, supplying more than 13,000 users. These users achieve average savings of up to 30% on their electricity bills, both during the day and at night, by combining daytime local renewable energy supplied by solar neighborhoods with renewable energy supplied by Visalia during the remaining hours from wind farms and other large renewable plants. By bringing generation closer to final consumption, this model improves the efficiency of the energy system and strengthens its resilience at the local level.

This acquisition makes it possible to scale the model through the integration of new solar neighborhoods, leveraging the experience, digital platform and operational capabilities that Barter has developed as one of the benchmark players in urban distributed renewable generation, while expanding its reach and social impact. In this context, the transaction is aligned with Visalia’s impact strategy, which complements its energy and telecommunications activities with social initiatives through the Responsible Energy Foundation and its Energy Bank programs, aimed at tackling energy poverty and supporting vulnerable groups.

The transaction forms part of Impact Bridge’s strategy to support the energy transition across the value chain, backing models that bring infrastructure closer to end consumers while reinforcing social and environmental impact. Through the ‘IB Deuda Impacto España’ fund, Impact Bridge provides specialized financing and structuring capabilities for complex transactions, facilitating the deployment and growth of companies with measurable impact in Spain.

María Samoilova, Managing Partner at Impact Bridge and Head of the ‘IB Deuda Impacto España’ fund, stated: “This transaction reflects the type of impact we seek to promote: scalable models in the energy sector that combine economic viability with social and environmental impact. Supporting Visalia’s growth and Barter’s expansion allows us to accelerate the deployment of consumer-focused solutions and amplify impact at a national scale.”

For his part, Pablo Abejas, CEO of Visalia, said: “Visalia is committed to an energy transition that is social and guarantees universal access to renewable, efficient and affordable energy, especially for families, self-employed workers and small businesses who struggle to make ends meet. Achieving the energy transition only through large renewable parks owned by multinationals or rooftop panels installed by affluent homeowners would not be a fair transition. Our Solar Neighborhoods provide universal access to renewable and affordable energy for all families, self-employed workers and small businesses.”

Additionally, Pepi Jiménez, ESG Director at Visalia, highlighted: “Visalia is particularly committed to supporting the most vulnerable families, pledging to incorporate up to 114 Visalia solar neighborhoods, located in 91 towns across 29 provinces, into its Energy Bank to eradicate energy poverty in these communities together with the Responsible Energy Foundation, which identifies vulnerable families and delivers the aid and energy donated by Visalia.”

This financing adds to other investments made by the ‘IB Deuda Impacto España’ fund, focused on supporting initiatives that simultaneously generate measurable, genuine and intentional social and environmental impact, contributing to a fairer and more decentralized energy transition in Spain. These include transactions requiring tailored financing solutions and deep sector expertise, such as loans granted to Greenalia and Fundeen.

Lesayra acted as legal advisor to Impact Bridge in the transaction.

About ‘IB Deuda Impacto España’

Launched in July 2023 with the backing of MicroBank, ‘IB Deuda Impacto España’ is a flexible private debt fund focused on capital preservation, with the objective of financing social and environmental impact projects in Spain. Its investment scope includes rural development, labor inclusion, climate and environment, circular economy, sustainable agriculture and gender equality.

The fund is supported by leading institutional investors such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), MicroBank, Axis Participaciones (ICO Group), COFIDES and other financial sector players. With a seven-year lifespan—three years of investment and four years of harvesting—it is registered in Spain with the CNMV as a European Social Entrepreneurship Fund (EuSEF) and complies with the highest sustainability category (Article 9 under the SFDR regulation). Impact Bridge has also received support from the EIF through its Alternative Lending for Sustainable Development Instrument under Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

About Visalia

Visalia is an operator of urban renewable energy production infrastructure, energy and telecommunications distribution, with a vertically integrated model supplying electricity, gas, diesel, internet and mobile telephony to more than 180,000 customers in Spain and Portugal. It is the largest independent integrated energy operator with its own distribution networks after the dominant operators.

Visalia is committed to competitive and stable supply supported by highly efficient local infrastructure close to residential consumers, homeowners’ associations, SMEs and local entities, with a growing focus on distributed generation. It combines asset management with integrated supply and proximity to end customers to facilitate more efficient, sustainable and affordable access to energy.

In recent years, Visalia has strengthened its position in distributed generation through the development and integration of 330 solar neighborhoods, leveraging its operational, commercial and digital capabilities to scale these solutions nationwide through group synergies. The integration of Barter further reinforces its operational and technological capacity in this field.

In parallel with its business activity, Visalia channels its social commitment through the Responsible Energy Foundation, promoting initiatives aimed at combating energy poverty, labor inclusion of people with disabilities, child health and the promotion of best practices in the energy sector, in collaboration with social organizations and special employment centers. Among these initiatives is the Energy Bank, a pioneering project that provides access to different energy sources for vulnerable people across Spain.

With the purpose of “bringing energy to everyone, without exceptions,” Visalia positions itself as a key player in the transition toward a more efficient, accessible and socially responsible energy system.

About Impact Bridge Asset Management

Impact Bridge is a Spanish collective investment management company with more than €500 million under management, specialized in high-quality impact investing focused on projects that generate genuine, intentional and measurable impact. Founded in 2018, its team is composed of professionals with extensive experience in leading asset management firms, sustainable and impact investment, and academia. Its investor base includes private institutional investors such as pension funds, foundations and family offices, as well as public institutions such as the European Investment Fund, CDTI, COFIDES and Axis (ICO)