Agista, an alternative investment fund pending formal authorization dedicated to accelerating local SMEs through the capital market, part of Impetum Group, is acquiring a 15 percent minority stake in the Romanian company Eplus Smart Energy (Eplus), which provides energy management services ranging from electricity and gas meter reading to analysis and data optimization and the implementation of smart metering projects, including also industrial process automation, digitalization and energy efficiency solutions for all types of customers. This is the first transaction in this industry.
“Eplus Smart Energy is a Romanian company that has grown organically in the energy services market for domestic and business consumers and demonstrated a strong business in an increasingly competitive market. Agista decided to invest in Eplus Smart Energy because this company develops solutions for efficient and responsible management of energy consumption at the highest standards, a key economic target, particularly nowadays when the importance of environmental protection and sustainability is engaging the countries and companies around the world to promote a circular economy of energy. With this investment, Agista acts as an anchor investor validating the potential of sustainable energy and the projects that the company intends to develop towards reducing the carbon footprint in the Romanian energy industry“, declared Nicolae Kovacs, CEO, Agista.
“We are delighted to form a partnership with Agista and I have a firm belief that we together will continue to develop solutions and services dedicated to Romanian companies and consumers, enabling them to become more energy efficient. We are ready to support our customers in their transformation process, in the current context where sustainability and digitalization are in main focus. We aim to give our customers more resources and more time to put emphasis on developing their own businesses, therefore we see ourselves as a partner of our customers, joining efforts together and having common development goals,” declared Frank Hajdinjak, CEO, Eplus Smart Energy.
Recently launched, Agista is the first Romanian investment fund pending authorization dedicated to the AeRO market that sustains local SMEs to be listed, to obtain funding and to accelerate their growth through the capital market. The core business is comprised by PRE-IPO/PPO investments and investments in listed shares of emergent companies that demonstrated potential for growth. By acquisition of a minority stake in the Romanian company Eplus Smart Energy is aligning with the investment policy of identifying and accelerating the scaling potential of a company, assisting closely the entrepreneur in strategic decisions to support the company’s development through complementary expertise (financial, administrative, human resources, communication, marketing, etc.).
In 2021, the Eplus Group achieved a turnover of about 80 million RON, a 31 percent growth compared to 2020, a consequence of the projects developed. Three other companies, Eplus Automation, Eplus Laboratory and Eplus Smart Energy are included in EPLUS Group. The group companies provide services for monitoring, processing and collection of field data; verification of gas and electric energy meters for compliance and quality, implementation of smart metering, metrological check of meters, metering group management and services for industrial process automation and digitalization.
