Smart meter group to go private in £1.43bn deal
Manchester-based smart meter group Calisen has agreed a deal to take it private less than a year after its £1.32bh flotation.
It has agreed a sale to a consortium of funds worth £1.43bn.
Calisen was acquired by US buyout group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in 2016 in a deal believed to be worth around £1bn.
It owns the smart meters currently being rolled out in homes across Britain as part of the Government’s £13.4bn programme to help consumers keep better track of energy usage.
Calisen leases its meters to utility companies that then fit them in homes. It receives a monthly rent for 10-15 years as long as the device remains in a property.
By September this year it managed 8.8 million meters, bringing in revenues of £117.4m and operating profit of £16.7m in the first half of 2020.
The deal to take the company private will give shareholders 261p per share in cash, a more than 50% premium to the three-month average price and an 8.8% premium to the February IPO price of 240p.
The bidding group includes divisions of BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadal.
It believes there is an opportunity to expand smart meters from homes to uses like electric vehicle charging, batteries, heat pumps and water meters in the UK and overseas.
A statement from the bidding group said: “This vision requires significant investment and Bidco believes that the execution and financing of such a plan is better suited to private ownership rather than a publicly-listed environment.”
The Calisen board has recommended the offer to shareholders. Chair, Phil Nolan, said: “The all-cash offer represents an attractive opportunity for all shareholders to crystallise their investment in Calisen in the near term and also provides a meaningful premium to the prevailing share price.
“We believe that the consortium has considerable experience investing in and supporting similar infrastructure businesses and we are pleased that they intend to support Calisen’s strategy and growth ambitions.”
