The innovative European platform for B2B energy services Blue Pearl Energy opens up the energy service market for companies, public institutions and communal living. As an alternative to the large energy groups, Blue Pearl Energy offers a new business model, the aim of which is to build an efficient European network of SMEs that specialize in various energy services for public and private business customers. The platform is supported by a fund from the global infrastructure investment company DWS. With the support of this fund, Blue Pearl Energy plans to implement an investment program of 600 million euros to acquire around twenty SMEs within five years. Three companies were acquired in the second quarter of 2020.
The investment program is supported by DWS 'third pan-European infrastructure fund. This solid financial basis allows the platform to acquire SMEs that have specialized in one or more branches in the field of B2B energy services, with a focus on France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Central Europe. In addition, the platform's customers can be supported in investing in new and efficient solutions for energy and the environment.
Blue Pearl Energy plans to bring together SMEs that complement each other. The aim of the platform is to offer comprehensive solutions for more energy efficiency in buildings and at industrial sites, mainly in the areas of air conditioning and electrical engineering, decentralized production of renewable energy, combined heat and power and energy management.
Ultimately, Blue Pearl Energy wants to become a recognized alternative provider of energy services, which, detached from the large corporations, offers solutions with high added value for different locations and customers and uses different technologies for this purpose.
SMEs conquer new markets for energy-efficient solutions
The market for B2B energy services is characterized by a high degree of fragmentation, with large corporations on the one hand and SMEs forming two opposite poles on the other. In between there is a niche in the market for companies like Blue Pearl Energy, which will benefit from the high growth potential.
Eric de Seguins Pazzis, co-founder and CEO of Blue Pearl Energy, explains: “The starting position is beneficial in two ways for an undertaking like ours. First, because the European market for energy services is experiencing strong growth, supported by the inevitable energy turnaround, which is at the heart of the development plans after the corona crisis. Second, because this industry is now very fragmented: On the one hand, there are large corporations, which are often linked to energy supply companies or actors from the construction industry. On the other hand, there are independent SMEs who find it difficult to offer cross-regional solutions for more energy efficiency and to gain access to certain customer segments, such as large customers. This creates space for a medium-sized player with a hybrid model that takes into account the customer requirements of private and public institutions that have not been adequately served by previous providers. "
A credible alternative to the large energy service providers
Blue Pearl Energy wants to promote the complementarity between the companies in the network and bundle their synergies in order to offer business customers more comprehensive solutions. The hybrid model connects two worlds: From the large corporations, it adopts the idea of a central platform to implement the strategic vision of the entire network and its business development by developing new offers and expanding the customer base. At the same time, the world of SMEs is preserved because small and medium-sized companies become part of the platform, but their activities are still based on a deeply rooted entrepreneurial culture as well as on values such as customer proximity, agility and pronounced customer orientation.
The concept has already convinced three SMEs with strong growth in France and Belgium: Alcad, Coretec Energy and Cogengreen, the acquisitions of which were completed in the second quarter of 2020. Advanced discussions are currently taking place with several other SMEs that are convinced of the “Blue Pearl” model, and this in all countries that are part of the focus regions of the new European platform.
“The accelerated energy transition in the German economy leads to new needs in companies and in the public sector. This new dynamic is forcing medium-sized companies in the field of energy services to join forces
