Smart metering company Landis+Gyr made an announcement on Thursday that it will form a joint venture with Pacific Equity Parnters (PEP) to acquire Acumen from Origin Energy.
The newly created joint venture will go by the name of intelliHUB Holdings Pty Ltd. The acquisition includes the management and servicing of 170,000 smart meters already rolled out in Australia by Acumen. Reportedly, Australia is pending a large-scale smart meter roll out, which will be handled by the new joint venture.
Landis+Gyr established intelliHUB in Australia in 2015, to join the smart metering market under the then introduced contestability rules.
By acquiring the Acumen business, the combined entity is poised to rollout a significant proportion of the estimated 8 million smart meters to be deployed across NSW, Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory starting immediately. Landis+Gyr will be contributing both cash and its intelliHUB business with combined equity value of up to $75 million (US$ 57 million).
With Landis+Gyr providing expertise in smart metering, PEP secured necessary funding for the role out. Tapping its $1 billion Secure Assets Fund, PEP in conjunction with eight Australian and global financial institutions could raise an initial $500 million of capital to finance the roll-out.
The joint venture will retain both the intelliHUB and Acumen brands as the combined businesses come together to focus on all facets of residential, industrial and embedded networks and solar metering services across Australia and New Zealand. In parallel with the establishment of the joint venture, intelliHUB has entered into a five-year meter supply contract with Landis+Gyr with expected volumes of approximately 800,000 smart meters to be deployed to multiple utility customers across Australia and New Zealand.
Cameron Blanks, Managing Director at PEP said: “The Australian market is just commencing a major widespread deployment of smart metering technology. This requires experienced partners that are acutely focused on the customer experience and getting the most out of this once in a generation technology refresh. We have partnered with Landis+Gyr and we believe this business will create an independent and differentiated experience for energy retailers, providing an exceptional rollout experience with the global leader in metering innovation.”
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