• A minority investment long-term growth capital strategy to support French and European champions of the energy and ecological transition and help them to scale
  • Eiffel has unique expertise and a track record in this field
  • Top-ranking investors with a €80 million contribution from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a final target of €500 million by early 2022

Eiffel Essentiel targets champions of the energy and ecological transition

The energy and ecological transition offers very attractive value creation opportunities. In addition, several French and European “unicorns” have already emerged in this sector. Renewable energy, sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, energy storage, smart grid, recycling, environment, agriculture, sustainable food and health players are growing steadily on the back of technological innovations and usage revolutions. This growth requires significant capital to finance industrial investment.

Eiffel Essentiel meets this need. With an investment capacity of €300 million from the first closing, Eiffel Essentiel plans to invest tickets of up to €50 million in around 15 French and European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps working for the energy and ecological transition and with the potential to become champions in their sector.

Eiffel Essentiel will invest in equity and quasi-equity and will take a role as a leading minority shareholder alongside shareholding managers, founding families or industrial shareholders. With a horizon of up to ten years, Eiffel Essentiel is positioning itself as a long-term strategic partner and will pair its investments with its expertise and network developed over more than ten years.

The fund is expected to make its first investment very soon.

Eiffel Essentiel — for large investors keen to invest effectively in sustainable development

The Eiffel Essential fund is innovative and stands out in the private equity funds sphere:

  • It benefits from Eiffel's sharp industry expertise and proven track record (more than €1 billion has been deployed over three years to finance almost 100 companies and more than 1 000 energy and ecological transition infrastructure projects).
  • It intervenes at the key growth capital stage, when technological and economic models are largely de-risked, to enable the companies it finances to scale.
  • Its long-term horizon enables it to draw maximum benefit from the value creation of ambitious industrial projects, while granting entrepreneurs the time to develop them.
  • The sustainable development goals it pursues lie at the heart of institutional investors’ concerns.

This unique positioning has provided Eiffel Essentiel with 12 top-ranking investors from the outset, including the EIB (number one contributor to the fund with €80 million), Bpifrance, which is investing in equity via the Growth fund of funds and under the Programme d’investissements d’avenir — Future Investment Programme (PIA), AG2R La Mondiale, Covéa, Pro BTP, CIPAV, La Lux, Suravenir, L’Auxiliaire, Banque de France, and families and entrepreneurs experienced in the sector. The Eiffel Group and the fund management team are also investing a substantial sum to align their interests.

Other major French and European investors are currently considering investing in the fund, which has a target of €500 million for its final closing at the end of 2021 or in early 2022.

Eiffel Essentiel was certified under the initiative to promote the financing of technology companies resulting from the “Tibi” report, and also has the ESG Luxflag Applicant and France Relance labels.

Eiffel Chairman Fabrice Dumonteil said: “We sincerely thank the 12 investors that have placed their trust in us by signing up to Eiffel Essentiel's innovative investment approach. Committed to financing the energy and ecological transition for over ten years, we designed Eiffel Essential to meet the need for equity expressed by operators in the sector to finance their strong growth. We are motivated every day by the development and value creation outlook for these players.”

Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB (the fund's number one investor), added: “Eiffel Essentiel's strategy to foster the emergence of European energy and ecological transition champions is fully in line with the ambition of the European Investment Bank and its role as a climate bank. We are pleased to partner once again with Eiffel, which has already demonstrated its expertise and ability to design investment solutions that work to benefit the climate.”

Bpifrance Executive Director Nicolas Dufourcq concluded: “The Eiffel Essentiel fund's positioning centred on the ecological and energy transition chimes perfectly with the ambitions of Bpifrance, the French climate bank particularly committed to supporting green technologies and the renewable energy sector, the two major focuses of our Climate Plan implemented together with the Banque des Territoires.”

The Eiffel Essentiel S.L.P. fund is a closed fund under the FPS (fonds professionnel spécialisé — special professional fund) format intended exclusively for professional customers. GIDE provided counsel on forming the fund (Stéphane Puel, partner, Clothilde Beau, senior employee).

Background information:

About Eiffel Investment Group

Eiffel Investment Group is an asset manager specialising in corporate financing. The Group has assets under management totalling over €3 billion and offers businesses a broad range of debt and equity financing solutions, both private and listed. The Group, which has substantial own funds, has put in place an institutional infrastructure, ensuring a very strong alignment of interests with its institutional investor fund clients. Eiffel Investment Group is an independent firm, owned by its team alongside Impala.

About Bpifrance

Bpifrance’s equity investments are carried out by Bpifrance Investissement. Bpifrance finances businesses — at every stage of their development — by providing credit, guarantees and equity. Bpifrance supports them with their innovation projects and on international markets. Bpifrance also assists them with their export business via a wide range of products. Advisory and university services, networking and an acceleration programme for startups, small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-caps are among the other options offered to businesses. Thanks to Bpifrance and its 50 regional branches, businesses benefit from a single, efficient local player to meet their challenges.

About the Programme d’investissements d’avenir — Future Investment Programme (PIA)

Active for ten years and led by the General Secretariat for Investment under the French Prime Minister, the PIA finances innovative projects, contributing to the transformation of the country, sustainable growth and the creation of the jobs of the future. From the conception of an idea to the rollout of a new product or service, the PIA supports the entire innovation lifecycle, across the public and private sectors and together with economic, academic, regional and European partners. These investments are based on a rigorous doctrine, open selective procedures, and principles of co-financing or return on investment for the government. The fourth PIA (PIA4) — with €20 billion in commitments between 2021 and 2025 — will provide long-term support for innovation in all its forms, enabling France to strengthen its positions in future-oriented sectors, promoting competitiveness, the ecological transition and the independence of our economy and organisations.

More information is available at: www.gouvernement.fr/secretariat-general-pour-l-investissement-sgpi