Weinberg Capital Partners has acquired a minority stake in Orion Énergies (“Orion”), an independent solar energy developer and producer, in order to support the company in a new phase of its development which will include the definition of an impact plan. This is the fifth investment of WCP Impact Dev #1 fund.
Co-founded by two brothers, Augustin and Hadrien Clément-Fromentel, Orion, major French player in photovoltaic energy, is a development, financing, construction, and operation platform. With a track record of around fifteen years, the company, which employs nearly 40 experts based in Paris and Lyon, has developed its expertise around intermediate-sized roof and ground projects (on abandoned or degraded land).
Since 2020, Orion has become an independent electricity producer by operating photovoltaic power plants developed in-house and already operates more than 150 power plants, giving it a strong local presence.
Orion’s activities provide a concrete response to the energy transition and the fight against climate change, and also play a significant role in achieving French and European energy independence objectives. In order to illustrate its position as a responsible company, Orion has recently defined its purpose as “Sustainably brightening our territories”.
Alongside Weinberg Capital Partners, Orion will strengthen its development through the definition of an impact plan based on four fundamental commitments: proximity to territories, integrity at the heart of actions, collective energy, and daily agility. This roadmap will allow the company to accelerate its growth in a responsible manner. To this extent, Orion will adopt in 2024 the status of a mission-driven company in order to anchor its sustainable business model.
Founded in 2005, Weinberg Capital Partners is an independent investment company historically active in buy-out capital, which expanded its field of intervention to real estate assets in 2008, and has been investing since 2015 in the capital of listed French SMEs/mid-caps as a minority shareholder with an active, friendly and long-term approach. In 2020, Weinberg Capital Partners added its capacity to invest in SMEs/mid-caps with a minority strategy focused on sustainable development issues, which offers extra-financial support known as impact, to better prepare companies for environmental and societal challenges. In 2023, Weinberg Capital Partners created a new fund, Eiréné, dedicated to the development of SMEs/mid-caps in the security and defense sector.
With €1,3 billion of assets under management, Weinberg Capital Partners is a significant player in the mid-market equity segment in France.
For more information: weinbergcapital.com.
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Co-founded by Augustin and Hadrien Clément-Fromentel, Orion Énergies is an independent developer-producer of photovoltaic solar energy that develops, constructs, and operates solar power plants in France. For more than a decade, the company has been supporting local stakeholders by developing photovoltaic solar power plants for farmers, businesses, and municipalities.
Bérengère Beaujean
Communication Manager
berengere.beaujean@weinbergcapital.com
+ 33 7 85 58 29 73
