Riverside seeks buyers for $US1b energy business; hires Lazard
Plenty of action in the energy sector – and it’s not just restricted to the generators and retailers. Institutional investors – from Brookfield Asset Management and EIG at Origin Energy and Macquarie at EnergyAustralia – may be looking at those major assets, but Street Talk has found another significant opportunity being marketed by Lazard.
It’s Energy Exemplar, the tearaway energy analytics business owned by The Riverside Company. The Melbourne-based private equity outfit invested inEnergy Exemplar in 2017 and has grown the business exponentially since. It now has a massive operation in the United States – having moved its headquarters from Adelaide to Salt Lake City – and is expected to fetch over $US1 billion ($1.54 billion), sources said on Monday.
Viewed as a unique business within the energy utility infrastructure software sector, Energy Exemplar is expected to receive a stack of interest from global tech-focused heavyweight firms. PA
The company is a market leader in energy market simulation software. Its product, PLEXOS, runs complex market modelling simulations for industry players in the electricity, water, gas and renewables sectors.
Viewed as a unique business within the energy utility infrastructure software sector, Energy Exemplar is expected to receive a stack of interest from global tech-focused heavyweight firms like American buyout fund Thoma Bravo, which has US$127 billion under management and has been seen on a range of deals. Swedish private equity firm EQT and independent operator Vista Energy are among financial and trade buyers also expected to take a look.
Riverside – which has Simon Feiglin and Steven Spiteri on the ground in Australia – took a controlling stake in Energy Exemplar six years ago.
Read more on afr.com
