Marguerite, a pan-European infrastructure fund focused on investments in energy transition that contribute to sustainable economic growth and climate protection, has acquired a majority stake in SotySolar – a renewable energy services company – via its latest fund, Marguerite III. The transaction was closed on 12 December 2023 and consists of partially acquiring shares from Plenium Partners and subscription of new share capital increase.
SotySolar is one of Iberia’s leading players in the distributed renewables market in Spain and Portugal, with a track record of over 6,000 residential B2C installations. Headquartered in Gijón and founded in 2016 by Edgar Imaz and Daniel Fernández, the company has historically focused on the Spanish residential segment, providing turnkey solutions for (i) self-consumption solar PV, (ii) batteries and (iii) EV chargers, and recently expanded into Portugal. The company will soon launch the sale of heat pumps as part of its offering. SotySolar serves the entire value chain, from the installation process to maintenance of the assets, sales and marketing, and support in obtaining licenses and applying for subsidies.
Plenium Partners, which is an independent Spanish investment group specialising in sustainable assets and energy transition and remains a shareholder, took a majority stake in SotySolar in 2021. Since then, it has supported the company’s growth and development through investments and collaboration with the management team by actively managing the business, contributing its experience and advice and becoming a key partner for value creation. During this period, revenues increased four-fold, the workforce grew by more than 100 professionals, and the company entered the Portuguese market, as well as expanded the B2B product offering.
As part of the transaction, Marguerite III is committing significant capital to consolidate SotySolar’s market position in the residential segment (B2C), expand its client base by supporting the company’s growth in apartment buildings and the commercial segment of B2B clients (hotels, supermarkets, offices, etc.), as well as continue its expansion in Portugal. The strategic growth plan also foresees the
launch of new products and services to boost sales of PV solar installations and increase cross-selling opportunities while providing significant savings to final customers and helping Spain and Portugal meet their ambitious energy transition targets.
Significant growth perspectives
The distributed solar PV sector in Iberia is expected to witness significant growth over the coming years, underpinned by a favourable regulatory environment, an abundance of solar renewable resources and the support of national and supranational aid. Despite Spain being the third largest country in Europe in terms of installed PV capacity and the one with the highest abundance of sunshine and daylight hours, the country is lagging behind European peers when considering distributed PV capacity per capita, providing a significant expansion opportunity. Portugal is also showcased as an underpenetrated market, sharing similar attributes.
“We are enthusiastic about the market growth potential for solar PV self-consumption in the Iberian Peninsula and the role that SotySolar can play in helping end customers produce their own electricity through solar PV and reduce their electricity bills, thanks to reducing dependency on the grid. We strongly believe that SotySolar is well positioned as a platform to tap into this growth potential and boost demand for renewable distributed energy generation,” said Pilar Gomez, Partner at Marguerite.
“Our international expansion is exceeding our expectations, and we are witnessing our business model development strategy grow rapidly. Our objective is to become the leader in South Europe. This important round of funding demonstrates that our proposition is working. We also remain focused on growth in Spain and Portugal, as well as on opening new markets and expanding and improving our products and services. In the current market conditions, we are very pleased to demonstrate the strength of our brand,” said Daniel Fernández, CEO and founder of SotySolar.
The transaction will contribute to the energy transition process and aligns with the EU goal of access to clean and affordable energy. In particular, solar PV is the primary growth lever for achieving the EU’s environmental targets. As the energy in PV self-consumption installations is generated on-site, transmission losses are reduced to a minimum. The savings in energy, and therefore in operating costs, can be tremendous and complement energy management measures.
Marguerite was advised by Perez-Llorca (legal), Eight Advisory (commercial & technical), Deloitte (financial and tax), Willis (insurance) and Howden (W&I).
Plenium Partners and SotySolar were advised by Lazard, Gomez-Acebo Pombo, KPMG and EY
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