(Press Release) Grupo Ecos and SI Capital, announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Escotel Investments S.A., a Spanish investment vehicle owned by Enertika. Enertika is a Spanish-based Engineering group, world-leader in energy efficiency and distributed power generation projects. Escotel Investments was setup following the ESCo model where upfront investments are repaid from the savings generated by the project itself.

With their investment in Escotel, Ecos and SI Capital gain, on the one hand, strategic exposure to the attractive Latin America energy efficiency market, and on the other, strengthen the strategic and financial position of Escotel. The transaction is one of a growing number where Energy Efficiency companies like Enertika sell to investors a part of the future cash flows of a project. The specific transaction consolidates Enertika as a key promoter of energy efficiency projects in Latin America, while providing Ecos and SI Capital with a very attractive investment opportunity.

Enertika is currently working with Telefonica in Mexico and Central America to implement free-cooling solutions for its base stations (BTS). BTSs account for over half the energy usage of mobile operators. Enertika’s innovative free-cooling solutions will generate up to 25% energy savings at Telefonica’s Central America BTSs, cutting CO2 emissions by 1.3 million tons over a ten years period – the equivalent of saving 150,000 trees.

Ecos’ Investment Manager, Ramon Candia stated: “Our investment in Escotel represents a decisive move by our company as we continue to diversify our investment portfolio of energy and clean technologies by entering the energy efficiency business. As a company, we strongly believe that energy efficiency is an area that offers great potential for business opportunities and we are excited to join forces with an experienced technical partner like Enertika, in order to become a major player in this sector.”

SI Capital’s Managing Partner, Sebastian Waldburg added: “With this investment we continue our strategy to invest in energy efficiency projects with highly rated clients in cooperation with Enertika. We are looking forward to support Escotel’s current and future endeavors and we are very glad to see a major international player like Telefonica putting its trust in Enertika’s and Escotel’s products and services.”

Enertika’s founder and CEO, Francesc Tarongi stated: “Following 5 years on R&D, Enertika has managed to roll out its state-of-the-art energy management system in this Free-Cooling project. We are proud that, besides achieving significant energy savings for Telefonica, we can now remotely monitor and operate the free-cooling installations for each BTS, providing our client with a dynamic and cost-efficient way to manage its towers. I am very pleased that two highly regarded and experienced investment funds like Ecos and SI Capital have decided to invest in our vehicle Escotel Investments. This partnership is in line with Enertika growth strategy of achieving triple-digit growth thanks to third party funds.”