On Tuesday, Swedish private equity and real assets investment firm EQT announced that its fifth infrastructure fund (EQT Infrastructure V) will acquire UK EV charging network operator InstaVolt from Zouk Capital, a specialized British investment manager in sustainable energy and infrastructure assets. Price and other deal terms were not made public.
Headquartered in Basingstoke, UK, InstaVolt is an operator and owner of electric vehicle (EV) charge points with a nationwide network across the UK. InstaVolt was founded in 2016 with a mission to enable the UK’s journey to net zero through mass adoption of EVs. The company notes that even as 2021 EV sales in Britain totaled more than the five previous years combined, and as the UK has banned the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030, EV charging infrastructure continues to lag. One-third of British households currently lack access to off-street charging, keeping drivers heavily reliant on public charging stations.
InstaVolt’s charge points are most often situated at retail, food, beverage and forecourt sites, offering what the company describes as “a convenient service for the end-user who can combine their charge with other day-to-day activities.” Current partners include McDonald’s, Costa Coffee and Booths, among others. InstaVolt has been rated the most popular open network by EV drivers consecutively for the last four years.
EQT Infrastructure says it is committed to investing significantly to accelerate InstaVolt’s expansion of charge points across the UK, and supports its mission to roll out 10,000 rapid EV chargers by 2032. The Company’s strong market position, combined with EQT’s deep knowledge within energy transition and sustainability, will set-up InstaVolt for further success, both in the UK but also abroad.
“The future is electric and InstaVolt is essential to the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure across the UK, a prerequisite for enabling mass adoption of EVs,” said Anna Sundell, Partner and Head of EQT Infrastructure’s UK Advisory Team. “We are excited about supporting InstaVolt in the next phase of growth and for EQT to play its part in decarbonizing the transportation sector and driving the transition towards net zero in the UK and beyond.”
“InstaVolt has set a standard in the UK for driver experience and infrastructure, and now with support from EQT, we are in a unique position to accelerate that target and replicate our model in other geographies, transitioning the business into the next phase of growth,” said InstaVolt CEO Adrian Keen. “We want to thank our partners and customers who have supported us on our journey so far and want our customers to be reassured that what has made InstaVolt so successful, including our focus on reliability and ease of use, remains unchanged.”
The investment sees founding investor Zouk Capital exit after establishing the Company with the InstaVolt management team in 2016. Zouk manages the Charging Infrastructure Fund (CIIF), a roughly GBP 420 million (about $569 million) fund sponsored by the British Government and focused on the public EV charging market in the UK. Zouk’s infrastructure track focuses on investing in environmental infrastructure and renewable energy in sectors such as electric vehicle charging infrastructure, waste-to-energy, and distributed small-scale energy, in Europe and the UK.
With this transaction, EQT Infrastructure V is expected to be 65-70 percent invested. The deal is subject to approval by regulators.
