London, United Kingdom 21 September 2023 – Arcus Infrastructure Partners (“Arcus”) is pleased to announce that a portfolio company of Arcus European Infrastructure Fund 2 (“AEIF2”) has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of National Grid Smart Ltd (“NGS” or the “Company”), a meter asset provider (“MAP”) in the UK, from National Grid plc. The acquisition will be made via the entity that also funds Horizon Energy Infrastructure Ltd. (“Horizon”), Arcus’ longest owned smart MAP.
NGS is an established MAP in the UK electricity and gas markets, financing and leasing smart meters to energy suppliers under long-term contracts. NGS has an installed meter portfolio of c.200k meters which are on rental to a wide range of UK energy suppliers, including Octopus Energy and British Gas. NGS will be renamed HGS Ltd and will continue to be run as an independent meter portfolio, operated by the Horizon management team.
Mark Cresswell, Senior Investment Director at Arcus and leading on the acquisition commented: “We are extremely pleased to announce the acquisition of NGS. Arcus has been invested in the UK smart metering space since 2019 and has seen first-hand the resilience of the sector to recent energy market turbulence. The addition of a further c.200k meters provides diversification and economies of scale as well as supporting the environmental and social benefits inherent in the smart meter roll out programme.”
Arcus was advised by PwC (M&A), Pinsent Masons (legal), KPMG (financial and tax) and PA Consulting (commercial and technical).
Arcus media contacts:
Harriet Bellanca
E: harriet.bellanca@arcusip.comharriet.bellanca@arcusip.com
T: +44 7442 154256
About Arcus
Arcus Infrastructure Partners is an independent fund manager focused solely on long-term investments in European infrastructure. Arcus invests on behalf of institutional investors through discretionary funds and specialist co-investment vehicles and, through its subsidiaries, currently manages investments with an aggregate enterprise value of EUR c.21bn (as of 30 June 2023). Arcus targets mid-market, value-add infrastructure investments, with a particular focus on businesses in the digital, transport, logistics & industrials, and energy sectors. Further information on Arcus Infrastructure Partners can be found on www.arcusip.com
