05 September 2007

Climate Change Capital Announces Close of CCC Private Equity Fund (CPE) at €200 Million

(LONDON - 5 September 2007) Climate Change Capital ("CCC"), a leading investment banking group dedicated to investment in clean energy and the low carbon economy, today announces the close of the Climate Change Capital Private Equity fund ("CPE") at €200 million, one of the largest such funds in Europe.

CPE targets the high growth clean technology areas of clean power, clean transport, energy efficiency, waste recovery and water across Europe. CPE invests its funds in expansion and later stage companies including buyouts.

The investment team, comprising partners, Alex Betts, Bruno Derungs and Simon Drury, has a combined experience of over 50 years in private equity and over 20 years in clean technology investment. The team is able to leverage CCC's specialist industry and market knowledge, policy insights and international network of contacts to the benefit of the portfolio companies.

Investors in the fund include Alpinvest, Robeco, HSBC, USS, Alliance Trust, Bankinter, Woelbern Group and Harcourt.

CPE Partner Simon Drury said:

"It is gratifying that our fund has found such enthusiastic investor support. The European clean technology market offers the potential for excellent returns and we are confident that we will be seen as a partner of choice by companies in this market, whose growth we feel we can support both through capital and access to CCC's international network."

The close of CPE is another milestone in CCC's investment management business and takes CCC's assets under management to over US$1.5 billion. In 2005 CCC launched Ventus VCT plc and its first carbon fund, C4F1 followed in 2006 by the twin funds Ventus 2 VCT plc and Ventus 3 VCT plc. The same year saw CCC announce the close of C4FII, at €800 million, the world's largest private sector carbon fund. In 2007, four years after the firm's incorporation, CCC's strategic, comprehensive and innovative approach to climate change was recognised as it received The Man Group International Climate Change Award.

CCC chief executive Mark Woodall said:

"The close of the CPE fund confirms CCC's market position as one of the leading investment banking and asset management firms focused on clean technologies and the low carbon economies. We are furthering our reach and knowledge in this very high growth and important sector and we look forward to developing further funds to direct capital to de-carbonise our economies."

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Enquiries:

CPE
 Alex Betts          +44 (0)20 7939 5000     abetts@c-c-capital.com
Bruno Derungs     +44 (0)20 7939 5000     bderungs@c-c-capital.com
SimonDrury         +44 (0)20 7939 5000     sdrury@c-c-capital.com

Climate Change Capital
 Communications Team       +44 (0)20 7939 5319      media@c-c-capital.com

 

Notes to Editors:

About the Investment Team

Alex Betts: Alex was formerly a Partner at Montagu Private Equity and Head of Corporate Venture Capital at Royal Dutch Shell. He has 16 years' private equity experience and 4 years' clean tech experience.

Bruno Derungs: Bruno was formerly a Principal at SAM Private Equity and MD of ATV (a Swiss VC) and Bain & Co. He has 10 years' private equity experience and 5 years' clean tech experience.

Simon Drury: Simon was formerly a Partner at Charterhouse Capital Partners. He has 18 years' private equity experience and 4 years' clean tech experience.

About the Investors

  • AlpInvest: Alpinvest Partners is the leading independent private equity investment manager in the world and has over €35billion under management.
  • Robeco: Robeco is the asset-management center of the Rabobank Group providing investment products and services to around 700 institutional and 1.5 million private clients worldwide. Established in Rotterdam in 1929, Robeco is a pure-play asset manager with an active investment style with EUR 141.7 billion assets under management.
  • HSBC: HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. HSBC's international network comprises over 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.
  • USS: Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is the second largest pension scheme in the UK by fund size. USS is the principal pension scheme designed exclusively for academic and academically-related staff in UK universities and certain other institutions engaged in higher education and research.
  • Alliance Trust: Alliance Trust is an international investment and financial services group, specialising in fund management, pensions and investment services. Alliance Trust PLC is currently the UK's largest generalist investment trust company investing on a global basis across all major markets and sectors.
  • Bankinter: Bankinter is the sixth largest bank in Spain, is a reference entity in the Spanish financial sector thanks to its high technological development, quality service and strong commitment in innovation and the utilization of alternative channels in its relation with customers. At the end of the first half of 2007, the bank showed a net income of 251,14 million €, and 46.306 million € in total assets.
  • Woelbern Group: Woelbern are a Hamburg based privately-owned finance house involved in all asset classes.They are involved in wealth management, private equity, global transport and offer various closed end fund management products including property and endowment funds to private investors.
  • Harcourt: Harcourt AG is one of the global leading providers of alternative investment solutions for institutional investors.

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • What is the investment criteria of the fund?
    CPE invests its funds in expansion and later stage companies including buyouts. The targeted investment size is €5-20 million per portfolio company, typically as a lead or co-lead investor and with active board participation.
  • How is the fund structured?
    CPE is a typical private equity structure with a ten year life and initial five year investment period.
  • What is the expected return rate?
    The expected return rate is comparable to other private equity funds.
  • How big is the market opportunity?
    The Global Investment in Clean Technology was US$5.8 billion in 2006 giving a 58% growth rate on the previous year. In March 2007 the 27 EU member states agreed on a binding target of 20% of EU energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2020. The EU also agreed to cut CO2 emission levels by 20% at 1990 levels by 2020.
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