Fastned secures €75m strategic investment from Schroders Capital
Charging company Fastned has secured a strategic investment of €75 million in a private placement from Schroders Capital with the funding set to allow the company to expand its European network.
The private placement of 2,032,520 new depositary receipts represents the same number of new ordinary shares in the company’s capital.
Schroders Capital’s commitment is an important step in Fastned’s growth strategy towards 1,000 stations by 2030 as highlighted during the company’s “Charging Day” and in its recent results publications.
Schroders Capital will bring valuable additional energy and infrastructure-related expertise to the company, further strengthening the its 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 supervisory board member
Michiel Langezaal, CEO of Fastned, commented: “I’m very 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.
Jérôme Janssen, Co-head of Infrastructure Equity Investment at Schroders Capital, added: “We are very 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.“
Tom Hurst, UK Country Manager, Fastned is a speaker at next month’s Transport + Energy Forum – an event which will bring together key stakeholder groups to discuss the actions that need to be taken to reach net zero.