TerraX attracts €100m private equity backing as fund accelerates investment in biogas
Private equity investment group Swen Capital Partners has entered a joint venture with the Italian biogas group TerraX to finance renewable natural gas (RNG) development.
The new venture, which has over €100m of initial capital, will build and operate over 10 biomethane projects, to be operational by 2022.
The money has been released under the SWEN Impact Fund for Transition, the first European fund dedicated to financing renewable gas infrastructure, to be managed by SWEN Capital partners. The group is a leading player in responsible investment in unlisted assets in Europe with over €5 billion under management.
TerraX is the leading Italian developer of renewable gas projects, led by biogas expert and pioneer Michael Niederbacher, who has designed and built more than 220 units in 12 countries around the world. As well as being CEO and founder of TerraX Mr Niederbacher is also Vice President of the European Biogas Association.
Through its impact fund SWEN has entered into several agreements since going live in July 2019, when it released €62 million for RNG development in France. It has also entered a joint venture with Canada-based Greenlane Biogas to enable a more rapid roll out of biogas upgrading technology.
Olivier Aubert (left), SWEN’s fund manager, says, “We are very enthusiastic to support the Italian biomethane market in its growth. TerraX’s experience and skills in the biogas and biomethane sector are simply unique in Italy and combined with our own experience in financing and marketing biomethane, constitute pillars for successful and profitable growth.”
“The Italian market has been well known by our company for the last few years and allows us to see the growing interest in responsible investing that combines profitability and impact objectives in favour of the energy transition,” adds Jérôme Delmas, SWEN’s CEO (below left).
Mr Niederbacher expressed his delight at the joint venture “which will accelerate TerraX development in Italy.
The joint venture will build and operate more than 10 biomethane projects to produce RNG in Italy, to be injected into the gas networks or marketed as bioLNG for transport.
The aim is to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, while at the same time treating greenhouse gas-emitting farm wastes and reducing the use of chemical fertilisers. Once operational in 2022, the plants will produce enough energy to supply 1,000 heavy trucks and reduce emissions by 90%.
