Activist fund takes $20 million stake in Enviva

Bloomberg is reporting that ValueAct Capital Management has bought $20 million (€16.7 million) in Enviva shares. Enviva’s market capitalisation is around $772 million (€647.6 million).The deal was made through the hedge fund’s socially and environmentally focused ValueAct Spring Fund.

The fund has previously invested in the power generator AES and education company Strayer Education.

“This transaction demonstrates the strong investor support for Enviva Partners and the growing interest in renewable energy and infrastructure investments,” said John Keppler, chairman and chief executive officer of Enviva. “Proceeds from the sales will be recycled to help fund the capital requirements of our development joint ventures to construct the Hamlet plant and increase the capacity of the recently acquired Greenwood plant. We expect one plant to be made available as a drop-down transaction to Enviva Partners, LP in 2019 and the other in 2020.”

Jeff Ubben, founder and CEO of ValueAct, told Bloomberg that Enviva’s technology to improve wood pellet energy efficiency is what made the company attractive.