(Alliance News) - JLEN Environmental Assets Group Ltd on Friday said it has acquired a 70% equity stake in Bio Collectors Holdings Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
Bio Collectors Holdings is based in Merton, London, and owns the rights and operational assets to an energy-producing anaerobic digestion plant and the Bio Collectors waste collection business.
JLEN, an environmental infrastructure fund registered in Guernsey, said the consideration for Bio Collectors Holdings consists of an initial upfront payment, which includes working capital, plus deferred amounts which are "subject to certain conditions being met".
Neither the initial payment nor the deferred payment amounts were disclosed. The deal was funded using JLEN's revolving credit facility.
The anaerobic digestion plant was commissioned in 2013 and has since been expanded, having a current thermal capacity of approximately 10 thermal megawatts and a waste processing capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes per annum.
The Bio Collectors waste collections business, meanwhile, collects food waste for the plant from commercial, industrial, and local authorities in and near the Greater London area.
JLEN bought the 70% stake from "private individuals", while the other 30% has been retained by the existing owner, who is to remain active in the business.
Bio Collectors Holdings is JLEN's first food-waste fuelled anaerobic digestion acquisition and raises its total renewable energy assets capacity to 297.9 megawatts.
JLEN Chair Richard Morse said: "We are pleased with JLEN's latest investment, which presents a diversification within the anaerobic digestion sector. This acquisition of a food waste fed [anaerobic digestion] plant in London, bridges two sub sectors of JLEN's existing portfolio, leveraging experience of the agricultural AD assets and the waste processing assets. The production of biogas to inject into the national grid and also to power its own fleet of collection vehicles, underlines the importance that assets such as these play in the UK's ambition to decarbonise its energy supply. We also value the opportunity to continue to work with the existing private shareholder to drive further value in the investment in future years."
Shares in JLEN were up 1.9% at 119.25 pence in London on Friday morning.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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