Engie, a France-based, “low-carbon” energy firm, recently agreed to acquire Mobisol, a Germany-based provider of solar-powered products in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, for an undisclosed price. Among the reasons Engie is pursuing the transaction is the opening for “extending its customer base from rural to urban areas.”
Mobisol provides solar-powered products such as lights and telephone chargers that customers pay for via mobile payments over as many as four years. When a buyer wishes to delay a payment, Mobisol can temporarily disable the device remotely.
Engie’s holdings include: (1) Fenix International, which has delivered solar home power systems to 500,000 people in Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia; and (2) PowerCorner, which deploys solar-powered mini-grids in rural Tanzania and Zambia. It categorizes these and its other business lines into “renewable energy, gas and services,” such as climate control and electrical engineering.
Engie CEO Isabelle Kocher, said, “Not only do we change people’s lives with clean energy but we trigger economic activities for households and entrepreneurs who generate additional income once they are connected.”
Mobisol, which was founded in 2011, has installed about 150,000 solar home systems since it began distributing products in 2013. It has 500 employees and 1,200 contractors. In early 2019, the firm completed a court filing to enter a period of “self-administered insolvency.”
While Mobisol’s financial figures are private, one estimate places its total equity and debt fundraising at USD 85 million. Its investors include the Finnish government’s Finnfund; the Netherlands Development Finance Company, which is known by the acronym FMO; the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation; and Investec, a firm that was founded in South Africa.
Engie, which is traded on the Paris and Brussels stock exchanges, has 160,000 employees and reports 2018 turnover of EUR 61 billion (USD 67 billion).
Sources and Additional Resources
Engie press release
https://www.engie.com/en/journalists/press-releases/mobisol-market-leader-off-grid-solar-africa/
Engie homepage
https://www.engie.com
Mobisol homepage
https://plugintheworld.com
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