Inside the world of business
NTR finds energy for fresh venture
NTR, the toll company turned waste-management turned renewable energy company is now set to change its spots once more, with the announcement of a joint venture with the largest fund management company in the world, BlackRock.
The entity which will be based in Dublin will see BlackRock provide the cash and NTR provide the expertise, as the fund manager attempts to move into the field of renewable energy. While details are scant about the new venture, NTR will retain a “significant economic interest,” the company says.
Jim Barry and Co should be applauded for confronting a perennial problem in the renewable energy businesses – sourcing funding for this hugely capital-hungry sector.
As Barry said yesterday, utility companies and independent project developers are under huge pressure, and the sector needs to find new channels of capital. Significantly, NTR cannot source this on its own.
NTR’s much-feted investment in solar energy has clearly failed to deliver. Time will tell whether this reinvention is simply the company’s latest flirtation with a new business model or the beginnings of a coherent, long-term strategy.
Kingspan to build on success - cautiously
CONSTRUCTION materials group Kingspan sounded a note of caution as it released a solid set of 2010 results yesterday, warning “real buoyancy” will be absent from most of markets this year. However the group believes it is possible to continuing expanding globally, not just organically but through acquisitions.
Growth is likely to come from western Europe where, compared to Ireland and Britain, the penetration rate for high-performance insulation is low. This means there is “huge long- term scope” for growth, according to chief executive Gene Murtagh.
Kingspan has already grown its global reach with the acquisition of CRH’s western European CIE Insulation business for about €120 million last year.
“Once we’ve cleaned up that business, then absolutely we have an appetite for further expansion,” Murtagh said yesterday.
However any deal would have to be “strategic” for Kingspan. “We’re not deal junkies,” he said. “We’re a conservative company when it comes to debt. That’s been important to us.”
In terms of the war chest available to Kingspan, the group has about €400 million at its disposal, “but we wouldn’t spend that,” Murtagh said. “I’d say realistically, for the right kind of opportunity, [we could spend] €100-€150 million.”
TODAY
CRH, now the largest constituent of the Irish Stock Exchange, releases its 2010 annual results this morning.
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