It produces baseload renewable energy and nutrient-rich fertiliser from recycling organic waste and material, most of which would otherwise be sent to landfill.
The company has a UK-wide network of 19 anaerobic digestion plants. Its sites are strategically located so that it can best work with supermarkets, the hospitality industry, food manufacturers, farmers and local authorities to source and recycle waste and organic materials.
Biogen’s electrical equivalent capacity is 36 MWe which is equivalent to the electrical demand of around 100,000 average households in the UK each year.
Ancala invested in Biogen in 2017. We recognised that biogas was a highly attractive and growing infrastructure asset class and that the sector was highly fragmented, creating opportunities for consolidation. Biogen was an established player in the UK market, it owns and operates all of its sites, and the majority of its revenues are supported by 20-year inflation-linked, government backed support schemes, providing downside protection and strong cash flows. We secured the investment through actively engaging with the sector and the vendor to provide certainty that we could deliver the transaction in a short period of time.
Since our investment, we have led the business to complete four acquisitions and optimise performance at its existing and acquired plants. The value creation plan has led the business to almost treble its generation capacity from 13MWe to approximately 36MWe. We have also strengthened the management team and promoted a compliance director to board level to enhance the Biogen’s focus on health, safety, environment and compliance.
Ancala’s Industry Partner approach has been instrumental in Biogen’s growth throughout the investment life cycle. Our prior experience from running blue-chip regulated energy businesses has been pivotal in introducing new relationships, challenging business plans, enhancing operations and guiding the business strategy.
Ancala continues to steer Biogen’s growth plans to acquire additional operational green energy plants. We are also enabling investment in technologies that help the business to inject green gas from existing sites directly into the UK gas grid, supporting the decarbonisation of the national gas network.