EA Technology has secured Private Equity investment to accelerate its development of smart grid solutions.
Nordic impact investor Summa Equity has invested alongside the management and employee shareholders of the Capenhurst based business.
EA Technology is a solutions provider for the monitoring and management of electricity grids and assets, headquartered in the North West.
Founded in 1966 EA Technology’s suite of smart grid hardware, software and services boasts customers across five regional offices. Its stated mission is to “promote the development of decarbonised, resilient, accessible and low-cost energy networks.”
Gisle Glück Evensen, Partner at Summa, commented: “Transitioning from a fossil fuel-based system to renewables presents a significant challenge to today’s electricity grids, driven by rapidly increasing electricity demand, intermittency and multi-directional flows. Solving these challenges is essential to achieve energy decarbonization and presents a multi-generational investment opportunity to upgrade and modernize grid infrastructure. By partnering with EA, we aim to accelerate the roll-out of EA’s industry-leading smart grid technology in the UK and internationally, accelerating the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.”
Under the company’s existing leadership, EA Technology has achieved £48m in annual revenue in 2023 and has around 300 full time employees.
Summa’s investment will enable EA to expand globally.
Robert Davis, Chairman and CEO at EA Technology, commented: “Our partnership with Summa will help us scale and enhance our offerings, ensuring we remain at the forefront of smart grid technologies. This investment aligns perfectly with our mission to support the energy transition and drive innovation in the sector. With DSW and Hill Dickinson, we had an absolutely first-class team that helped us successfully navigate a complex process.”
Investing from its EUR 2.3bn Summa Equity Fund III, the investment leverages Summa’s established history of enhancing portfolio companies’ strategies for value creation, aiming to drive sustainable growth and address critical global issues. The acquisition of EA Technology aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal (“SDG”) #7 through providing solutions that ensure affordable, reliable and modern energy services, and SDG #9 through increasing the resilience of grid infrastructure.
A Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance team of Mark Watts, Gregg Pendlington, Dan Walker, and Callum Sellar were lead advisers to EA Technology’s shareholders.
Mark Watts, partner at Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance, commented: “It was an absolute pleasure supporting the management team in achieving their ambitions of investment for EA’s next stage of growth.
“EA has developed genuinely world leading solutions for real time monitoring of the electricity grid, for which there is a substantial and growing need globally given the rapid decarbonisation agenda that touches every industry. It now has a very strong and aligned partner in Summa.”
A Hill Dickinson team of Jonathan Brown, Elan Iorwerth, Ben Correia de Sousa, and Joseph Reade provided legal advice to the shareholders. An RSM team of Colin Smyth, Tim Douglas, and Martin Cooper provided tax advice.
Elan Iorwerth, partner at Hill Dickinson commented: “We were delighted to work alongside Robert and the wider EA Technology team to guide them through each step of this momentous journey. The sale of this employee-owned company represents years of hard work, and this is the next, exciting chapter in the Group’s growth ambitions”
Summa Equity was advised by McKinsey & Company (CDD), Deloitte (FDD), Kirkland & Ellis (Legal), EY (Tax), Cambridge Consultants (Tech).