Paris-based Qair, a renewable energy platform company, announced on Wednesday, October 5th, that it has signed a partnership agreement with Schiphol, the Netherlands-based investment manager DIF Capital Partners.
The partnership will see DIF Capital invest in the French company through DIF Infrastructure VII to help accelerate its growth and portfolio build-out. The exact investment figures have not been disclosed.
The announcement comes a few days after DIF Capital Partners acquired a 55 per cent stake in Paris-based EV charging operator Bump.
Qair: What do you need to know
Founded by Jean-Marc Bouchet, Qair is an independent producer of renewable energy that is focused on a wide range of technologies, including onshore and offshore wind, utility-scale solar, energy from waste, hydroelectricity, (battery) storage, hydrogen production, and tidal energy.
Currently, Qair has an operational portfolio of approximately 1 GW, mainly of (onshore) wind ( approximately 75 per cent), solar projects, and a development pipeline of 25 GW. However, the company intends to add around 4 GW of renewable projects over the next five years.
The French company is present in 20 countries, with most of its activities based in France, Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Brazil.
Louis Blanchard, CEO of Qair, says, “With my partners Jean-Marc Bouchet and RGreen, and the broader Qair team, we are happy to welcome DIF Capital Partners and join forces to pursue the development of our group’s strategy. We are confident that with the entrepreneurial spirit that drives us both, DIF will offer us the best support in our mission to accelerate the energy transition, especially within the current complex energy market.”
DIF Capital Partner: What you need to know
DIF Capital Partners is a global independent investment manager with €14B in assets under management across eleven closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles.
DIF Capital Partners has offices in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, Helsinki, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, New York, Paris, Santiago, Sydney, and Toronto.
The Dutch investment manager uses two complementary strategies to invest in infrastructure businesses and assets, particularly in Europe, the Americas, and Australia. They are:
DIF CIF funds: DIF CIF III focuses on equity investments in small to mid-sized core-plus infrastructure companies in the telecom, energy transition, and transportation sectors.
Traditional DIF funds: DIF Infrastructure VII focuses on infrastructure equity investments with long-term contracted or regulated income streams like public-private partnerships, concessions, utilities, and energy transition projects (incl. renewable energy).
Gijs Voskuyl, Partner at DIF and Head of Investments for DIF Infrastructure VII, adds, “DIF is delighted to partner with Qair and its management team and support them in their next growth phase. We believe the company has built up an excellent track record and an impressive pipeline across a wide range of renewable energy sectors and countries and is very well positioned to play a leading role in the continuous decarbonisation of the global economy”.
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