Ardian acquires Finland based utility Nevel, a leading district heating and industrial energy solutions company

Paris, November 2nd, 2020 - Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, announces the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Nevel Oy (“Nevel”), a leading district heating and industrial energy solutions company, from Vapo Group (“Vapo”). Nevel complements Ardian’s global portfolio in terms of geographic and sector diversification. Nevel represents Ardian Infrastructure’s fifth investment in the region bringing the Nordic asset base to a size of 1.8GW of installed heat and power capacity. The asset management of Nevel will be supported by Ardian’s local sustainable energy investment platform, eNordic. 

Nevel owns and operates more than 150 heat and power plants and over 40 district heating networks across Finland, Sweden and Estonia together with one of the most sophisticated digital operating platforms on the market. Nevel is generating 1.6 TWh of energy annually and committed to the energy transition and further fossil fuel reduction. “We intend to grow the company by investing significant additional capital, thereby targeting to enhance the environmental friendliness and efficiency of Nevel’s heating plants and district heating networks. We are proud to be working with Nevel’s management team and supporting them in our future partnership”, says Eero Auranne, CEO of eNordic.

Through the investment, Ardian sees significant opportunity to develop and expand Nevel’s operations in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. “Nevel is a perfect fit with our strategy for sustainable energy and our asset portfolio in the Nordics. Nevel’s and our goals are aligned and we will aim to make it the go-to platform for municipalities and industrial companies seeking to outsource energy services through sustainable solutions”, explains Simo Santavirta, Senior Managing Director and Head of Asset Management of Ardian Infrastructure.

”Our investment in Nevel forms a significant milestone of Ardian’s overall strategy to significantly reduce CO2 emissions worldwide. Digital and artificial intelligence will play a key role in the energy transition of the asset”, says Amir Sharifi, Energy Transition lead for Ardian Infrastructure. Earlier this year, Ardian made its first investment in Finland - the acquisition of the Lakiakangas 1 wind farm. Ardian’s sustainable energy asset base in the Nordics is now at nearly 500 MW wind and 1350 MW heat capacity, operating across Finland, Norway, Sweden and Estonia. 

“The Nordics are a core region for Ardian Infrastructure with attractive fundamentals and significant potential to invest in essential infrastructure in energy, transportation and telecommunication. We are proud to add Nevel to our portfolio in the region and are looking forward to supporting the company’s strategy”, according to Daniel von der Schulenburg, Ardian Infrastructure Head of Northern Europe, Germany and Benelux. 

This transaction is yet to receive clearance from the local competition authorities. Ardian does not own any competing or overlapping businesses with Nevel in Finland or in the Nordic and Baltic countries.