2' min read
2' min read
A new office to consolidate the internationalisation process. The Fondo Italiano per l'Efficienza Energetica (FIEE SGR), with a budget of 500 million euros almost entirely invested, has announced the opening of a new office in Madrid: the aim of the fund (which has its headquarters in Rome) is to continue its investment path in the Spanish market that began with the acquisition in 2023 of Cubierta Solar, a company in Alicante specialising in the installation of photovoltaic and battery systems for self-consumption projects for industrial customers.
The interest in the Iberian market is dictated by the ambitious targets the country has set for itself: the idea for 2030 is to generate 81% of its electricity from renewable sources and increase the share of renewables in final energy consumption to 42% from 21% in 2021. And for 2050 the bar is even higher as Andrea Marano and Raffaele Mellone, Co-CEOs of FIEE SGR, state: 'Spain, with its significant commitment to the energy transition, is proving to be a particularly strategic destination. The country has set ambitious targets, such as climate neutrality by 2050'.
Leading the Spanish office of FIEE SGR will be Javier Infante Bustelo as Spain Investment Director. And he will carry on the fund's strategy, which is characterised by three essential elements: capital more in companies than in their founders; growth more organic than through acquisitions; and logic more industrial than financial.
The fund currently has around EUR 400 million invested in the sectors of public lighting, energy services and energy redevelopment in the residential sector, energy storage, HVACR (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) and renewable energy generation. And overall, it boasts returns that it claims are higher than the average of companies managed by other private equity firms: "FIEE distinguishes itself from the main private equity funds by channelling its investments mainly into the recapitalisation of investee companies through, in most cases, the acquisition of majority stakes, so as to accelerate their growth plan and obtain higher valuations that also benefit the entrepreneurs themselves who reinvest," the fund's managers explain in a note. Over the years, FIEE's strategy has generated a CAGR of 26% in the overall EBITDA of the companies in its portfolio, compared to an average of 8% for Italian companies supported by Private Equity funds'.
Among its investors, FIEE can count leading insurance groups, investment funds, asset management companies, family offices, foundations, supranational bodies, institutions and banks, including the European Investment Bank (anchor investor of FIEE I and IEEF II) and Fondo Italiano di Investimento SGR (FII SGR).
