UK smart meter firm IMServ has partnered private equity firm Bluewater through a successful carve-out from Schneider Electric, with plans in place for continued growth.
IMServ’s technology currently manages over 25% of all the electricity that goes through the national grid, providing electricity metering services including both installation and management of smart and advanced meters, data services and visualisation services.
It was attracted to Bluewater’s deep sector knowledge, the company said, as well as its supportive financial and business mindset and its drive to embrace the energy transition.
Bluewater’s financial strength will allow IMServ to “take advantage of the huge growth potential” of the energy transition, according to IMServ managing director Steve Brown.
With IMServ now having capital to deploy, the company is looking at several acquisition options to drive its expansion in the UK and other European markets.
It has identified a number of growth opportunities in several areas in the UK and internationally, including the expanding data settlement market to support the needs of a flexible energy transition, organic growth through increased uptake of smart meters in the commercial and domestic electricity markets and potential mergers and acquisitions.
Thomas Sikorski, co-founder of Bluewater, said the firm is “delighted to have acquired what is already a market-leading company”, describing IMServ as having been “at the cutting edge” of metering technology for the last 20 years.
Smart meter installations are continuing to pick up pace across the UK, with 6.7 million smart meters connected to the Data Communications Company’s (DCC) network in 2020/21.
The number of smart and advanced meters in homes and small businesses hit 24.2 million in Q1 2021.
