International clean tech developer ion Ventures has accepted up to £150 million for committing its UK energy projects to a partnership with GLIL Infrastructure Fund LLP.
The couple’s offspring Flexion Energy Holdings UK now assumes ownership of all ion Ventures’ big UK properties and projects, plus all similar future business. Control by GLIL of 95% of Flexion’s equity is its partner’s bridal gift.
GLIL, an infrastructure investment fund, manages £2.5bn of assets. It is backed by Local Pensions Partnership and Northern LGPS. The investors have a niche in prepping grid-scale energy projects for investors with very long time horizons, such as pension funds.
Flexion targets 300MW of operational assets by 2023, continuing to 1GW before 2026. If those and other targets are met, ion Ventures can increase its interest in Flexion.
Co-founded by Hassen Bali and Dan Taylor, ion Ventures boasts a number of “market firsts”, including the first Tesla grid-scale storage system in Europe, which saw one of the first uses of battery energy storage for grid-scale support in the UK. The pair claim 200 MW of existing UK assets.
ion Ventures is 20.3% owned by London-quoted Coro Energy, whose clean tech operations are focused on Asia. Coro boss Mark Hood welcome the tie-up, saying it would assist ion Ventures in funding their joint interest on that continent.
The deal is the eleventh investment by GLIL. In April, it bought meter manufacturer Smart Meter Assets 1 Ltd. Other investments include stakes in Anglian Water, Clyde Windfarm, Forth Ports, two fleets of train rolling stock Rock Rail, Agility Trains East (‘ATE’), a rolling stock fleet of 65 new intercity trains on the East Coast Mainline.
