Washington DC and Copenhagen, August 1, 2022: Augment Infrastructure and the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) are pleased to announce an equity investment of US$85 million in Origo Energia (www.origoenergia.com.br/en), a leading distributed generation company in Brazil. Origo Energia owns solar farms across Brazil and serves residential customers and small and medium enterprises under Brazil’s Distributed Generation Law of 2022. Origo Energia’s shareholders include TPG ART-Circularis, MOV Investimentos and Mitsui.
Currently Origo Energia is operating around 150 megawatt of renewable energy and provides electricity for more than 50,000 customers. The company plans to use the proceeds from the equity investment to further expand its solar generation assets within the next 12-18 months. “This capital contribution provides Órigo with the autonomy to accelerate the construction of solar farms, to continue investing in technology, and to expand its service to new geographies. This, in turn, democratizes access to solar energy, which allows for the preservation of natural resources and client savings on electricity bills,” said Surya Mendonça, Órigo Energia’s CEO.
Investors having extensive experience
Augment Infrastructure (www.augmentinfra.com) is a fund manager established by a team that spun out from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2019 after more than 20 years of managing global infrastructure strategies for IFC and the IFC Asset Management Company. Augment Infrastructure is partnered with the Old Mutual Group and is focused on sustainable growth infrastructure strategies, primarily in emerging markets, across sectors such as power, water and sanitation, telecom infrastructure and transport.
Viktor Kats, Managing Partner of Augment Infrastructure, said: “We are excited to become a shareholder in Origo Energia. Brazil has implemented a robust regulatory framework that we believe promotes the growth of distributed generation in the country and makes Origo well positioned to maintain its leadership in the sector.”
IFU (www.ifu.dk/en) invests in developing countries to support the green transition as well as economic and social development. IFU has invested in more than 1,300 companies in 100 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and parts of Europe. IFU’s investment in Origo Energia has been made through the Danish Sustainable Development Goals Investment Fund, whose limited partners include pension funds and institutional investors from Denmark and Sweden. The investment in Origo Energia is the largest single investment by the Danish Sustainable Development Goals Investment Fund, thus far.
Torben Huss, CEO of IFU, said: “IFU has made several investments in renewable energy in Brazil, and we are pleased to continue our engagement in supporting the green transition in the country through our SDG Fund I by investing in Origo Energia, a business model innovator and a solar DG developer in Brazil. We are also delighted with our second partnership with Augment Infrastructure following our joint investment in an Indian C&I developer, CleanMax in 2021.”