UK energy fund holds €97m second close

AIM-listed environmental financial services company Impax Group has held a second close on its latest vehicle, Impax New Energy Investors, bringing fundraising for the fund to €97 million ($124 million).

Ian Simm, group chief executive at Impax and managing director of its fund management arm, Impax Asset Management, told PEO that the firm had raised €37 million at its second closing and was still on target to reach its €125 million hard cap by the end of summer.

Simm: on target for €125m summer final close

Simm declined to name which new investors had committed to the vehicle, but limited partners in the first closing were Dexia Credit Local, a provider of finance to the energy and infrastructure sectors and the sponsor of the fund; British Airways Pension Fund; Co-operative Insurance Society; Universities Superannuation Scheme; and South Yorkshire Pensions Authority.

Simm added that the majority of commitments in the vehicle came from the UK, with the remain being allocated by European institutional investors. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is acting as placement agent.

Impax New Energy Investors will typically invest between €5 million and €20 million in wind farms as well as companies in the solar energy, biomass, hyrdo-power and gas sectors.

The asset management arm of the London-based Impax Group was established in 1998 and has two predecessor private equity funds: the vintage 1998 $25 million Photovoltaic Market Transformation Initiative, which Simm said is now fully invested in 11 solar power projects in India, Kenya and Morocco; and the 2003 Recycling Fund, which is partially invested and focuses on the UK’s recycling sector.

Simm said that Impax Asset Management has 17 staff, of which 10 are investment professionals.