Exclusive: Inflexion bolsters green credentials with minority investment in Wood Thilsted
Inflexion Private Equity Partners (Inflexion) has strengthened its green credentials with a minority investment in Wood Thilsted, an offshore wind engineering consultancy.
Wood Thilsted designs the foundations for some of the world’s largest wind farms, and has been involved in key UK green energy projects such as Dogger Bank and the offshore development near East Anglia.
The company, which was founded in 2015, is looking to expand globally to meet strong demand for its services, which include supporting the development of 8GW projects across four continents.
The investment is being made from Enterprise Fund V, Inflexion’s dedicated lower mid-market strategy.
The size of the deal and the percentage involved remains undisclosed.
The private equity firm enjoyed its busiest year in 2021, supporting nearly a hundred investment opportunities within its portfolio, boosting its earnings by £120m.
The founders of Wood Thilsted will remain majority owners and lead the business through the energy transition to renewable sources.
The offshore wind market is benefitting from strong underlying market growth in offshore wind farms of over 20 per cent per annum.
Wind power is a key factor in the government’s plans to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a pledge it reaffirmed at the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow.
Electricity generation from wind power in the UK has increased by 715 per cent from 2009 to 2020 according to the Office for National Statistics, with turnover from wind energy reaching £6bn in 2019.
Simon Turner, managing partner at Inflexion, said: “In a relatively short space of time, Wood Thilsted has clearly demonstrated the huge opportunity in offshore wind and is extremely well placed to meet it. We look forward to playing our part in seeing Wood Thilsted reach its potential as its growth is further propelled by the global shift towards sustainable energy consumption.
Christian LeBlanc Thilsted, chief technology officer and co-founder of Wood Thilsted, added, “This timely collaboration with Inflexion will accelerate our growth so that we can continue to deliver the very best engineering solutions for offshore wind.”
Commenting on the deal, Michael Moore, BVCA director general, explained: “Private equity and venture capital can, and are, playing a leading role in our shift to green energy. And the industry’s desire to invest sustainably, tackle climate change and work with national governments to reach net zero is a driving factor in selecting which businesses to support.”