Gimv & other shareholders enter into an agreement for the sale of energy distributor Lampiris to Total

Gimv, together with co-investor SRIW and the founding shareholders Bruno Venanzi and Bruno Vanderschueren, have agreed to sell 100% of Lampiris to Total, the world’s fourth-largest oil and gas company and second-largest solar energy operator. Gimv, through its Gimv-XL Fund, was involved as an investor in the company since 2013.

Founded in 2003 by Bruno Venanzi and Bruno Vanderschueren, Lampiris (www.lampiris.be) is an independent distributor of electricity and gas in the Belgian market with about 850,000 connections. Since Gimv became a shareholder in 2013, Lampiris also started operations in France, where it developed into a fast growing challenger with today about 200,000 connections. Moreover, it now also offers insulation services, wood pellets and firewood, smart thermostats or boiler maintenance to its customers.

A strong platform for further expansion into the Belgian and French B2C markets

Given stabilizing market shares and potential economies of scale, a consolidation phase was expected to emerge in the market. Lampiris and its shareholders have actively explored the merits of such consolidation scenarios. The transaction that is announced today fits into Total’s ambition to strengthen its integrated model across the chain of gas and electricity and thus move closer to the end customer. With a portfolio of more than one million customers, Lampiris brings Total a deep customer relation expertise as well as a powerful digital platform.

Dirk Dewals, Partner Gimv, on this transaction: “Over the past years, Lampiris grew from an entrepreneurial challenger in the Belgian energy market into a professional energy distributor, with a strong market position, an attractive client portfolio, and an attractive product offering. The acquisition by Total offers Lampiris a unique opportunity to further expand and grow, backed by a strong industrial group which is rapidly expanding its integrated offering on the gas and renewable electricity market. We are proud to have actively contributed to this transition and would like to thank our co-shareholders and the management team for the fruitful co-operation."

For Gimv, this exit will have a net positive impact of EUR 3.5 million on the equity value at 31 March 2016. Over the entire period, this investment generated a return above Gimv’s long-term average return. No further financial details on this transaction will be disclosed.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to the customary closing conditions.

For further information, we refer to the company’s press release in attachment.