Slaughter and May is advising Schroders plc (“Schroders”) on the acquisition of an initial 75% shareholding in Greencoat Capital Holdings Limited (“Greencoat”) for an enterprise value of £358 million.
Established in 2009, Greencoat is a specialist investment manager focussing on renewable energy infrastructure investing, including wind, solar, bioenergy and heat. Greencoat operates nearly 200 power generation assets across the UK, Europe and the US, with an aggregate net generation capacity of over 3 gigawatts. Greencoat is one of Europe’s largest renewable infrastructure managers, with £6.7 billion of assets under management at 30 November 2021. The transaction is aligned with Schroders' strategy to build a comprehensive private assets platform and enhance its leadership position in sustainability. Schroders platform already covers private equity, securitised credit, real estate, infrastructure, insurance linked securities and impact investing. Greencoat will become part of Schroders Capital, Schroders' private markets division, and be known as Schroders Greencoat.
The proposed acquisition is a Class 2 transaction for Schroders under the UK Listing Rules and is expected to complete in H1 2022, subject to regulatory approval. The deal includes a potential earn out, payable three years after completion, which is subject to stretch revenue targets, the continued employment of the senior management team in the Greencoat business and is capped at £120 million. A series of options, exercisable by Schroders or the Greencoat management shareholders, are also in place for Schroders to acquire the remaining 25% shareholding over time.