Drake Star Partners Advises Pod Point On Its Sale To Edf And Legal & General

AMSTERDAM | LONDON | February 14, 2020 – Pod Point, one of the largest, rapidly growing EV charging solution providers in Europe, has successfully joined forces with EDF and Legal & General. Through this transaction, EDF advances strategy to become the leading energy company for EVs in Europe. Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Pod Point and its Shareholders on this transaction.

Founded in 2009 by CEO and entrepreneur Erik Fairbairn and Chairman Peter Hiscocks, Pod Point is a leading provider of charging infrastructure for EVs and operates 62,000 charging points in the UK and a further 6,600 in Norway. It offers charging solutions at home, at work and at destination and has developed an extensive public network connecting EV drivers with almost 3,000 charging bays across the UK, including at Tesco and Lidl shops, Center Parcs and a number of sites across Legal & General’s extensive property portfolio.

Today’s announcement follows EDF Group’s acquisition of Pivot Power last year, which specialises in grid-scale batteries and provides high voltage power infrastructure required for rapid EV charge-points. EDF has acquired a majority stake in Pod Point as part of a newly-formed joint venture with Legal & General Capital (“Legal & General”). The highly synergetic acquisition of Pod Point is EDF Group’s largest investment in the EV market and forms part of its plan to become the leading energy company for electric mobility in France, the UK, Italy and Belgium. Furthermore, it will allow EDF to offer quality installations of charging solutions as part of even more attractive EV deals.

Legal & General Capital’s purpose is to generate long-term shareholder value by injecting new capital into key alternative sectors of the economy that need innovation and funding. With an urgent need to improve and invest in UK cities, for institutions with significant capital to invest in socially useful assets, there are huge opportunities. Legal & General’s Future Cities business is committed to delivering this change, through urban regeneration, clean energy, infrastructure and technology.

Erik Fairbairn, Pod Point CEO & Founder, said: “This is an incredibly exciting next chapter for Pod Point. We set out in 2009 with the vision that travel shouldn’t damage the earth and a mission to put a charge point everywhere you park. So far, we have made great progress towards those goals."

“By joining up with EDF we can take things to the next level and accelerate our national roll out of charging points and make it even easier for drivers across the UK to go electric. I’m immensely proud of what the Pod Point team has already achieved but think it is only a fraction of what we will now be able to do with EDF. We just took a big step forward in being able to deliver against our mission!”

John Bromley, Head of Clean Energy at Legal & General Capital said: “It’s been just over a year since we made our investment in Pod Point. By investing our capital in clean energy assets, businesses and technologies, we can accelerate the progress to a low-cost, low-carbon economy. Our capital has enabled Pod Point to make substantial progress and execute its growth strategy over the last 12 months. Today we have increased our stake from 13% to 23%, creating value for our shareholders and forming a landmark partnership with EDF."

“Pod Point is delivering practical, innovative solutions and strategies for EV roll-out to support the UK’s ambition to reach net zero emissions and our new partner will enable the business to accelerate its plans. With COP26 taking place in Glasgow later this year, this is an important year for action on climate change and we are delighted to be part of the solution.”

Frank Verbeek, Managing Partner of Drake Star Partners Amsterdam, added: “From a strategic point of view, it makes a lot of sense that parties within the Energy and EV Infrastructure space join forces to make EVs and its infrastructure more accessible and reliable for all stakeholders and by that realising the necessary low-carbon economy. After advising NewMotion in the sale to Shell and Allego to Merdiam, another market-leading EV charging company gets the strategic partner that will accelerate their required growth”

Drake Star Partners team: Frank Verbeek, Sherief Rahim, Maarten Vrijhof
Legal advisor: Robin Hampton, Ross Miller (Keystone Law)

Inquiries

For further inquiries, please contact Frank Verbeek or Sherief Rahim:
Frank.Verbeek@drakestar.com; Sherief.Rahim@drakestar.com