Austrian solar company ENcome has announced the acquisition of abakus solar and in the process said it intends to “expand strongly” its O&M division in the UK.
ENcome announced the deal yesterday, confirming that it intended to bold on further acquisitions in the coming months through a “buy and build” strategy.
The deal will see ENcome’s European portfolio of solar farms it services expand to 800MW, 300MW of which is based in the UK. That amount will register the company as one of the largest O&M providers in the UK market.
Abakus applied for preliminary insolvency just two months ago, from which ENcome has acquired both the German operations of abakus and its UK-based subsidiary abakus solar Manchester.
Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, and ENcome expects it to complete in the coming weeks.
Joint managing directors at ENcome Energy Performance, Robin Hirschl and Burkhard Söhngen said that abakus “perfectly fits ENcome in its business model”.
“Together, we want to increase our European presence and provide high service quality and value add in order to maximise the benefit of our customers,” they added.
The deal comes amidst strong focus on the UK O&M sector as its operational capacity continues to grow and the number of ground-mounted solar farms completed two years mature from warranty periods.
Earlier this week French renewables developer Voltalia confirmed that it was in advanced talks to acquire Martifer Solar, stating that it was doing so to add O&M activities to its list of services.
In February this year a roundtable discussion at the Solar Finance & Investment conference in London heard that consolidation in the UK’s O&M market was “inevitable” as large players look to cement their status and expectations of service providers continue to grow.