(Alliance News) - Calisen has agreed to a GBP1.43 billion takeover offer by infrastructure funds led by BlackRock.
The Manchester-headquartered provider of smart energy meters said Friday that its board has agreed unanimously to the offer, with shareholders set to receive 261 pence per share in cash.
Calisen closed at 206.60p each in London on Thursday, and the deal represents a 50% premium to the firm's three-month volume weighted average closing price as of Thursday of 174p.
Calisen shares were up 25% at 257.80p on Friday morning in London.
The takeover, by Coyote Bidco Ltd, is considered "fair and reasonable" by Calisen's board, who intend to unanimously recommend the offer. The companies said support has been received from shareholders representing 73.6% of its equity.
Coyote is a consortium made up of two parts: Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III and a series of West Street funds, which are managed by Goldman Sachs.
The first half, Global Energy & Power, is acting on behalf of its investment manager BlackRock Alternatives Management and its co-investor Ninteenth Investment Co, an indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Co PJSC. The second half of the consortium is made up of West Street International Infrastructure Partners III AIV, West Street Global Infrastructure Partners III AIV, West Street European Infrastructure Partners III AIV, Broad Street Credit Holdings Europe Sarl and GLQ Holdings.
"Bidco believes that Calisen represents an attractive opportunity to invest in the energy transition sector via one of the largest owners of smart meters in the UK with strong growth potential and opportunities to expand into adjacent sectors," Coyote said.
The bidders said they were particularly attracted by Calisen's Lowri Beck installation, meter reading and maintenance arm, which it had acquired back in August 2019. "Calisen's integrated service provides an end-to-end metering offering," they said.
Coyote added: "Bidco believes that there is a longer-term opportunity to utilise Calisen's integrated platform and IT capability to expand into adjacent energy efficiency investment opportunities including electric vehicle charging, batteries, heat pumps and water meters in the UK given the increasing sustainability focus of governments and consumers, as seen by the recent UK Green Investment Scheme. In addition, Bidco believes that there is a longer-term opportunity to expand the business internationally to other jurisdictions with similar smart metering regulatory frameworks to further diversify the business and leverage expertise and know-how of the business."
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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