Capital injection enables Fiberline Composite wind sector growth
ABN AMRO’s Energy Transition Fund acquired 34% of Fiberline shares, implements ambitious growth strategy for pultruded wind blades.
ABN AMRO’s Energy Transition Fund (ETF, Amsterdam, Netherlands), an independent subsidiary of Dutch bank ABN AMRO, recently acquired 34% of the shares in Fiberline Composites A/S (Middlefart, Denmark) a company that manufactures carbon- and glass fiber-pultruded products to strengthen wind blades. With this transaction, Fiberline will have the financial power to expand its activities in the wind sector. Further, to achieve the business plan, a new board of directors with a firm footing in the wind sector will be appointed.
Focused on supporting equity capital in companies and early-stage projects that contribute to a low-carbon future, ABN AMRO reports that investing in Fiberline had been an obvious strategy from the start. It is said that Fiberline has more than tripled its business in the past five years and expects to triple again in the coming five years. It is also the company’s ambition to follow its customers globally — including establishing production facilities on multiple continents — which ABN AMRO’s capital could further enable.
“Fiberline Composites has proven its ability to successfully get their innovative materials incorporated into the world's longest and most advanced wind turbine blades,” says Pieter Smit, Investment Director at ABN AMRO ETF. “This business perfectly fits in our strategy to, amongst other investment pillars, invest in companies that can play a key role in accelerating the energy transition.”
After approval, Fiberline will appoint a new board of directors, consisting of a number of heavy weights from the global wind sector including the former CEO of LM Wind Power (Kolding, Denmark), Marc de Jong, the former CEO of JSB, Frank V. Nielsen and the former Vice President of Procurement at Vestas (Aarhus, Denmark) and current CEO at Jysk Energi (Holstebro, Denmark), Lars Naur. Peter Thorning will continue his role as chairman, and ABN AMRO ETF will be represented in the board of directors by Pieter Smit.
“We are proud to be able to attract a strong and serious investor,” adds Ole Arenfeldt Jensen, CEO of Fiberline. “We look forward to accelerating our growth strategy within wind turbine blades. More advanced blades are crucial to the success of the wind sector.”
Through a significant capital injection and the purchase of shares from the Thorning family, ABN AMRO ETF will hold 34% of Fiberline Composites’ shares. The capital injection means that Fiberline Composites will now be fully focused on the wind sector. This transaction also includes the separation of Fiberline's construction division into an independent company. This entity will remain solely with the Thorning family under the name Fiberline Building Profiles A/S.
The transaction is subject to approval of the Bundeskartellamt (German competition authorities).
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