Fastned, the European fast charging company, today announces a €75 million private placement of 2,032,520 new depositary receipts. This represents the same number of new ordinary shares in the capital of the company (the “New DRs”) with Schroders Capital, the private markets investment division of global asset manager Schroders.
Schroders Capital’s commitment is an important step in Fastned’s growth strategy towards 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations by 2030 as highlighted during the company’s ‘Charging Day’ and in its recent results publications.
In line with their long-term commitment, Schroders Capital will have the right to designate one person for appointment as a supervisory board member, representing Schroders Capital in the supervisory board of Fastned.
Schroders Capital will bring valuable additional energy and infrastructure-related expertise to the company. This further strengthens Fastned’s ability to compete in its markets.
As a consequence, the supervisory board of Fastned will be expanded with one additional member, to four in total. Initially, Schroders Capital intends to designate Jérôme Janssen, co-head of Infrastructure Equity Investment at Schroders Capital, for appointment as a supervisory board member (see the appendix for a biography of Jérôme Janssen). Jérôme Janssen is expected to be appointed by the company’s general meeting no later than 16 December 2022.
Fastned intends to use the proceeds of the placement to fund part of the company’s capex plan. This consists of expanding the capacity of its existing stations, accelerating the development and growth of its network of charging stations and the funding of capex for government-related tenders as well as for general corporate purposes.
Michiel Langezaal, Fastned CEO, said: “I’m pleased to welcome Schroders Capital as a long-term investor to Fastned. This not only provides Fastned with the funding to continue to roll out our network, enabling us to make the next big step towards reaching our goal of 1,000 stations before 2030.
“It also marks the start of a new phase with Schroders Capital’s large institutional sustainable infrastructure fund coming on board as an anchor investor, taking a long-term perspective on our business and industry, and being willing to actively support our growth plans.
“Their decision to play a part in the acceleration away from fossil fuels, towards a sustainable future and energy independence, at a time in which energy markets are turbulent and economic and geo-political circumstances uncertain, is admirable and something I applaud.
“With Schroders Capital, one of Europe’s largest independent investment firms on board, Fastned is able to accelerate the pace of building fast charging stations even further, catering to the exponentially growing demand for fast charging services.
“Building a wide and reliable fast charging network powered by wind and sun, plays an important part in the fight against climate change and the path towards energy independence.”
Back in July Fastned open its 12th electric vehicle charging station in the UK as part of the Energy Superhub Oxford. This is Europe’s most powerful electric vehicle charging hub and Fastned has initially installed 10 charging bays at the Superhub. These offer up to 300kW of power and are capable of adding 300 miles (484km) of range in just 20 minutes for hundreds of EVs per day.
Jérôme Janssen, co-head of Infrastructure Equity Investment at Schroders Capital, said: “We are proud to be part of the Fastned journey as European leader in EV charging, one of the next big infrastructure markets.
“As an infrastructure investor, we are intimately familiar with the strong need in charging infrastructure to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.
“We are impressed by management’s track record of developing Fastned as the established market leader in the Netherlands today and we are excited about management’s ambition to further expand its network across Europe. We feel privileged to support the Fastned team on its strategy of fast growth over the long term.”
This follows the news from earlier in the year that Fastned had raised nearly €23 million (£19.7 million/$24.1 million) with the issue of new bonds. In addition, investors extended over €7 million (£6 million/$7.34 million) worth of investments from earlier issues, bringing the total issued amount in this round to nearly €30 million (£25.7 million/$31.4 million).
