Munich, Germany 
June 19, 2024 Qwello, a Germany-headquartered electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure specialist, is actively screening European markets for acquisition opportunities, Managing Director and founder Henrik Thiele told Mergermarket.
The Tiger Infrastructure Partners portfolio company, which expects revenue in the ballpark of EUR 30m in 2024 with positive EBITDA, has a shortlist of potential targets that it is talking to, seeking to determine whether they would fit its business or negotiating terms, Thiele said.
Qwello’s management is looking for acquisition targets that are active in the public alternating current (AC) charging segment, which is the core business of Qwello, Thiele said. The company prefers targets with no less than 500 charging points, although in a case of an asset deal Qwello could assess smaller networks, he added.
Qwello operates more than 12,000 charging points across close to 300 municipalities in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, France, Poland and Spain, Thiele said.
The company is interested in acquisitions that would support its organic growth in its existing markets or facilitate new market entries in Europe, Thiele said. It would consider new market entries depending on their attractiveness in terms of EV adoption rate, size of a market and existing public charging infrastructure, Thiele said.
Qwello would engage advisors for its transactions, Thiele said, adding that having an external legal advisor is mandatory. Other advisory appointments would depend on a potential deal size and Qwello’s own knowledge of a particular market, he said. For example, Qwello can forgo commercial due diligence when acquiring in a market it knows, Thiele said.
The company was advised by PwC on commercial due diligence, Alvarez & Marsal on financial due diligence and by a law firm De Brauw on its acquisition of Park&Charge, the Netherlands-based charge point operator, for an undisclosed consideration last month, according to Thiele and Mergermarket database.
Tiger Infrastructure Partners, which invested EUR 50m into Qwello in November 2021, provided further funding for the acquisition of Park&Charge, Thiele said, without specifying further.
Fundraising plans
Qwello does not have a specific goal regarding the number of acquisitions it could make in the future, Thiele said. This would depend on factors such as how well a target company fits its business, also on the availability of financing, and Qwello’s own capabilities to digest a target properly, he added.
The company is planning to raise fresh equity and debt funding in 1Q25 to further propel its organic and acquisitive growth, he added.
The company is close to selecting an advisor for the upcoming fundraise, Thiele said.
Thiele declined to comment on the amount Qwello is considering raising. It is too early to comment on the potential equity and debt split, which will also depend on the market conditions, he added. The company expects to look at various investor groups, including private equity and infrastructure funds, family offices, as well as pension funds, he added Qwello will seek to raise the equity funding part primarily via a new share emission, Thiele said, but declined to elaborate on the likely stake size or its targeted valuation. The fundraising could also include some secondary elements, as Qwello has a significant employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), and some of its employees might consider selling part of their options, he added.
Aside from the ESOP, Qwello’s other significant shareholders are Tiger Infrastructure Partners and Thiele, who founded the company in 2017 and was its main financier until it attracted funding from Tiger, the executive said, adding that he is not looking to exit the company.
Based in Munich, Qwello is a full-service builder, owner, and operator of EV charging infrastructure; it focuses on the provision of inner-city charging infrastructure and operates charging points at public locations in partnership with local municipalities, as reported. The company is looking to grow its team of around 90 employees to more than 100 this year, Thiele said.
Source
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