Panoramic, a leading equity investor in fast growing, owner managed businesses, is delighted to announce the second exit from Panoramic Growth Fund 2 with Pod Point being sold to French Energy company EDF. The sale generated an exceptional return for Fund 2.
The Fund invested £2.25m in Pod Point, the UK’s largest independent electric vehicle charging network in June 2018. The business has grown strongly in the last 18 months with operations spanning from the UK to Norway and from home charging through to commercial and workplace charging solutions. The company is an integral part of the UK’s move towards an electric vehicle future.
Pod Point will be EDF Group’s biggest EV investment and the acquisition forms part of its plan to become the leading energy company for electric mobility in the UK, France, Italy and Belgium.
Stephen Campbell, partner at Panoramic, said of the sale:
“We are delighted that Pod Point’s vision of how a low carbon infrastructure can be achieved has been recognised with this acquisition by EDF. It has been a pleasure to work with Erik Fairbairn and his team since we invested in 2018. Our investment was driven by a belief in what the company was trying to do in reducing harmful air pollution, particularly in major urban areas, together with the attractive high demand/restricted supply dynamics that we look for in any Panoramic investment”
Erik Fairbairn, Pod Point CEO & Founder:
“Our shareholders believed in our vision that travel shouldn’t exacerbate carbon emissions and I’m delighted we can repay them with a return on their investment.
This is an incredibly exciting next chapter for Pod Point. We set out in 2009 with the vision that travel shouldn’t damage the earth and a mission to put a charge point everywhere you park. So far, we have made great progress towards those goals.
By joining up with EDF we can take things to the next level and accelerate our national roll out of charging points and make it even easier for drivers across the UK to go electric. I’m immensely proud of what the Pod Point team has already achieved but think it is only a fraction of what we will now be able to do with EDF. We just took a big step forward in being able to deliver against our mission!”
Panoramic is currently investing its second Fund, which closed in 2016 at £65m. To date, 12 investments have been made from Fund 2 which provides a highly flexible and tailored range of equity solutions for SMEs including growth/development capital, MBOs and management succession finance. Panoramic was one of the earliest UK signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing. The Pod Point investment was made by Stephen Campbell, Partner and David Atkinson, Senior Investment Manager.