Floreat Group seeds biomass venture and invests in UK Renewables

Floreat Group has committed US$50 million to the UK biomass sector and has launched FCM Bioenergy Ltd., trading as Vesta.  

Vesta is an energy supply company (ESCO) specialising in providing low-cost, long-term green energy contracts using biomass to the manufacturing, agriculture and care home sectors. The venture will be funded through a mixture of equity and debt, all funded privately by the group. 

Ben Churchill, a principal at Vesta, and partner at Floreat Capital Markets Ltd., who structured and advised on the venture, commneted:

"The group has been following the renewables sector for some time looking for the right entry point and we are pleased to make our first investment. Through both acquisitions of existing ESCOs and by developing new sites we are aiming to build a portfolio generating around 40MW over the next 24 months. On the acquisition side we are targeting ESCOs from 199kW upwards, which are linked to the small, medium and large scale renewable heat incentive schemes. We have ambitious plans and believe this aggregation play presents an excellent opportunity to build a large independent ESCO"

Floreat Group is a privately-held, London-based independent financial group, with investments in debt, real estate and public and private equities.