New €100m German fund to target long-term green investments

Conetwork aiming for investments of up to €10m in renewable energy and cleantech firms

German investment firm Conetwork Erneuerbare Energien Management has this week closed a new €100m cleantech fund and revealed investments in two wood pellet production companies are already in the pipeline.

The company said the evergreen fund would focus on renewable energy and cleantech firms across Germany and Europe, typically investing between €2m and €10m a time in innovative startups, although larger investments may be possible in conjunction with a co-investor.

It added that it was aiming to build a broad footprint within the sector and was looking to invest in between 15 to 25 companies across a number of different fields, including renewable energy generation and combined heat and power systems.

The company said the fund retains the ability to hold companies for significantly longer than classical private equity investments, and could potentially retain an interest in a firm for between 10 and 15 years, making it a particularly attractive backer for firms working on emerging technologies.

The company said the first wave of investments have been concluded or are in the pipeline, with two unnamed wood pellet production companies having already attracted interest from the fund. Further investments are being prepared in the area of biogas production and distribution and the production of photovoltaic thin film modules.

A version of this article first appeared at Deutsche unquote

Mareen Goebel is Editor of Deutsche unquote