Highlander Transaction wins award "Outstanding M&A Deal Europe" by Inspiratia
Sale of 60% of Novar to DIF (The Netherlands, 2023), named "Project Highlander"
During Inspiratia's Europe Energy Transition Awards dinner on November 19th 2024 at the Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square in London, Voltiq was announced as the winner of Inspiratia's "Outstanding M&A Deal Europe" award for project Highlander.
Sale of 60% of Novar to DIF, including growth capital commitment by DIF (The Netherlands, 2023), named "Project Highlander".
Voltiq acted as exclusive sell-side advisor to IB Vogt and to Novar (formerly SolarFields) founders.
The deal was the largest renewable energy transaction in The Netherlands in 2023.
Dutch Infrastructure Fund DIF, one of the world's largest core infrastructure investors and headquartered in The Netherlands, took over 60% of the shareholding in Novar: 50% from IB Vogt and 10% from the founders of Novar.
Novar is The Netherlands' leading independent energy transition company. Novar owns 440 MW of operating solar PV capacity in The Netherlands, often jointly with local cooperatives and local interest groups. Novar is also constructing the 3rd biggest solar thermal project in the world located in Groningen, in th north of the Netherlands, supplying hot water to households. Novar also has operating BESS projects and a hydrogen project in advanced development. It has a further multi-GW development portfolio in land-based and rooftop solar PV, solar thermal, BESS, and hydrogen.
The transaction enabled ib vogt to exit from Novar and recycle capital in order to further grow its global portfolio of solar projects. ib vogt is one of the global leaders in energy transition and solar PV in particular.
The transaction also included a large, 3-digit million growth capital commitment by DIF to Novar, in order for Novar to expand its position as an IPP and fuel its internationalization.
Voltiq played a pivotal role in the transaction, which not only concerned complex multi-asset modelling and valuation of plain vanilla (solar PV) as well as new technologies (BESS, hydrogen, solar thermal), coordinating the DD processes, and driving the sale and capital raising process between the sellers and DIF, but also meant navigating the transaction through a particularly difficult Dutch political environment during the 2nd half of 2023. The transaction was concluded successfully for the sellers and the buyer.
https://www.ibvogt.com/ib-vogt-divests-its-50-shareholding-in-novar-to-dif-capital-partners/
