Members of our FIC community and subscribers to The European Family Investment Company Report – FIC owners and senior executives – from eight countries met online in November, 2022 for the 1st EFIC Virtual Roundtable.
Acting on feedback from our FIC Community we created this new virtual format to replicate, as far as possible, an actual meeting. Virtual Roundtables are designed to be a practical, focussed, interactive, one-hour working session where experiences, challenges and opportunities are freely shared. We hope this will be the first of many such valuable meetings.
We have just published our Meeting Notes and Takeaways.
The Meeting
Agenda: Investing in sustainable infrastructure/renewable energy assets
The meeting was led by a member of our FIC Community that has been active in sustainable infrastructure/renewable energy since the end of the 1990s. The FIC was represented by an executive owner from the 3rd generation, and an advisor to the family.
Participants
Participants introduced themselves, their FICs and their experience of sustainable infrastructure/renewable energy asset investment and ownership. Experience levels ranged from those exploring and actively seeking market opportunities, to those with long experience in renewal energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro and their supporting technologies, both in Europe and worldwide, many of whom are also looking actively for additional co-investment and project partners.
Data about FIC involvement in Sustainable investment/ownership
Early data from The European Family Investment Company Report: Second Edition was shared by John Learmonth of Deanbridge International, including: how many FICs are involved in Sustainable investing/ownership, a ranking of countries according to the percentage of FICs active in Sustainable, strategies FICs adopt to invest/own assets, breakdown of ownership/investment by renewable sector (eg wind, solar etc), and named examples of FICs with Sustainable Support Units and Sustainable Investment Arms.
One FIC’s involvement and its view of the market today
The FIC leading the meeting presented itself and its involvement with sustainable infrastructure/renewable energy assets; one of the its four main investment/ownership areas. Today, the FIC’s sustainable infrastructure/renewable energy asset business is focussed on wind, solar and energy storage in Europe, operating 700MW across 50 locations with €1bn+ AUM. It went on to discuss the ‘why, what and how’ of investing in sustainable infrastructure/renewable energy assets and its returns and risk considerations. Ways to access investments were suggested and a helicopter view of the Global Market was presented.
Issues debated by other participants
Other meeting participants then discussed a range of issues, including: how family business experience can be leveraged to invest in sustainable infrastructure/renewable energy assets; where investors should be focussing their time and money now; repowering on and offshore wind; financial challenges of rising interest rates and volatile energy markets; windfall taxes; working with landlords to develop wind projects – the different types of contracts on offer; communicating benefits of wind projects to local communities; using ‘house money’ to invest in greentech, VC and early-stage projects; obtaining government and local authority permissions; trends in PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements); and the need for good partnerships and connections at all levels.
Takeaways
Following the meeting we published and distributed 23 practical Takeaways grouped under the headings of: how FICs approach Sustainable investing; suggested potential opportunities; issues of investing such as accessing, strategy, yields, risks; the market; and key considerations for wind projects.
NOTE: to enquire how to receive the full text of the Meeting Notes and Takeaways from this EFIC Virtual Roundtable or how to join our community of Family Investment Companies please email: info @ deanbridgeinternational.com