Alantra advises Igneo Infrastructure Partners on the acquisition of ENSO from Tikehau
SECTOREnergy
ServiceM&A; Debt Advisory
Madrid – Alantra has acted as exclusive M&A and debt advisor to Igneo Infrastructure Partners (“Igneo”), the direct infrastructure investment business of First Sentier Investors Group, on its acquisition of ENSO, Spain’s leading integrated bioenergy platform, from Tikehau Capital, a global alternative asset management group.
Igneo is investing in ENSO through its flagship fund, European Diversified Infrastructure Fund III SCSp, reinforcing its commitment to high-quality, sustainable infrastructure assets.
Ernesto Plevisani, Managing Director and Head of Financial Sponsors at Alantra, said: “Our team’s deep understanding of the financial sponsor community, coupled with our top-notch energy sector expertise, enabled us to identify Igneo as the ideal buyer for this asset and position it as an exclusive opportunity. We provided our client with comprehensive M&A support throughout the deal, as well as debt advisory services, developing a creative solution to help achieve their objectives.”
Manuel Fernández, Managing Director and Head of Energy and Infrastructure at Alantra, added: “Within Alantra’s energy and infrastructure advisory practice, we had the pleasure of advising Igneo, one of the world’s largest infrastructure equity investors, on acquiring a leading industrial decarbonization platform. This platform will play a key role in supporting Spain’s electricity and thermal-intensive industries with regards to their decarbonization and energy sourcing objectives. ENSO stands out as a specialized bioenergy platform with state-of-the-art capabilities to replace fossil fuels, advancing Spain’s net-zero goals while also leading efforts in the emerging biogenic CO2 industry.”
This transaction highlights Alantra’s ability to successfully manage complex transactions by delivering multi-product services – in this case spanning both M&A and debt advisory – while offering end-to-end support thanks to a highly specialized energy sector team.
Igneo manages in excess of €17.6bn of equity invested in unlisted infrastructure assets worldwide, leveraging over 25 years of experience and a team of 100 investment specialists across Europe, North America, and Australia.
ENSO was originally founded as the biomass division of Spanish industrial corporation Gestamp and was carved out by Tikehau in 2020. ENSO currently operates five biomass assets and has an extensive pipeline of projects at various stages of development, with several now entering the construction phase. By effectively substituting natural gas boilers with biomass alternatives, ENSO provides a unique solution to decarbonize its customers’ industrial processes, generating both thermal and electrical energy.
