Clarke Energy

Headquartered: Knowsley, United Kingdom

Investment date: 2012

Exit date: 2017

GRC

https://clarke-energy.com/

At a Glance

Countries by exit

1,000+

Global Employees by exit

2.3x

Return on Realisation

How we helped

Clarke Energy provides distributed power plant solutions with market leading engineering, installation and maintenance support.

Internationalisation:

During our investment we supported (and equity funded) Clarke Energy in its overseas acquisitions in the US, Bangladesh, South Africa and Botswana, helping the business to become a truly global player. By exit this included 22 global territories.
In 2015, Clarke Energy’s UK operations reached its biggest milestone to date, achieving 1 gigawatt of installed power. By exit the company had over 5.4GW of power generation equipment spread across 19 countries.

During our investment turnover grew by 50% and staff numbers grew from 700 to 1,100. In 2017, an exit was achieved via sale of Clarke Energy to Kohler Co.’s Power Group, a global leader in engines and power generation systems, delivering a return of 2.3x and 21% IRR.

We were very clear prior to the transaction on what it was that we were looking for, and ECI absolutely delivered on that in terms of their input… the things we have asked the team to help us with, to help us jointly assess, their input has been very valuable.

Jamie Clarke

CEO, Clarke Energy

How did ECI help? The Clarke Energy story (2017)

We were looking to really increase our rate of growth. We had a number of strategies available to us that we wanted to assess and analyse, and that was part of the reason for going out to the market to look for a private equity partner
.
ECI stood out in the process. We ran a very detailed and thorough process, and ECI stood out because of the quality of their people — the people that we were going through the transaction with were going to stay, and have stayed, with the business post-transaction. There was a huge amount of credibility gained because they had worked harder to try and understand the business, to understand the sectors that we were involved in, and to get to know the management team and the aspirations of the business.
The experience has been very, very positive. In the 12 months post-transaction we have made three acquisitions, and the things that we’ve asked the team to come and help us with and jointly assess — their input has been very valuable.

We were very clear prior to the transaction about what it was we were looking for, and they have absolutely delivered on that in terms of their input and involvement in the vision.