Biogas leader agri.capital raises €60M for EU growth

Münster, Germany’s agri.capital raised €60 million ($81.4 million) in new equity today in a round led by TCW Group.

Returning investors included London hedge fund manager Altima Partners, New York private investment firm Green Partners, New York asset management firm Halcyon and London-based Ludgate Environmental Fund, an investment company providing expansion capital to cleantech companies.

Agri.capital, Europe’s largest biogas company specializing in renewable energy generation, also entered into a €10 million ($13.6 million) mezzanine debt facility with London’s Ecofin, an investment firm in the global utility and infrastructure sector.

Agri.capital develops, owns and operates Germany- and Austria-based biogas-to-power and biomethane-to-pipeline facilities. It plans to use the new funds for organic growth, to expand its European presence and to make acquisitions. It has a portfolio of 32.2 megawatts of installed capacity.

Deutsche Bank Securities managed the private placement for agri.capital. Deutsche Bank Securities is the investment banking and securities arm of U.S.-based Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB).

TCW, with €73.5 billion ($100 billion) in assets under management, led the round through its European Clean Energy Fund, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, closed in 2007 with €354 million ($481.9 million) from institutional investors in Europe, Canada and the United States. The fund provides capital for environmental energy initiatives including wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and waste-to-energy projects. It is also used for projects generating carbon credits and tradable renewable certificates. 

Agri.capital has a four-year framework agreement with Germany’s Schmack Biogas, signed in 2007. Schmack is building 15 plants with a capacity of 500 kilowatts for agri.capital, representing an order volume of €21.5 million ($28.6 million).

In 2007, Schmack announced it was building one of Europe’s biggest biogas plants, with 4 MW of generating capacity (see Schmack to build biggest biogas plant in Europe).