- A 100% black owned South African investment holding company, Reatile Group has agreed to acquire a 20% interest in the juwi Renewable Energies (Pty) Ltd, a South African unit of German renewable energy company juwi.
In a press release, Reatile Group announced that it formally entered into the agreement, with the signing of the papers by Simphiwe Mehlomakulu, Chairman of Reatile Group & Greg Austin, Managing Director of juwi, in April 2019. Reatile Group’s strategic focus is on energy, petrochemical and industrial sectors.
The purchase price has not been specified for the 20% stake in Juwi South Africa’s EPC company who are currently building four solar power plants with a combined capacity of 250 MW under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Program (REIPPP) Round 4.
Reatile Group Chairman, Simphiwe Mehlomakulu comments “The Reatile Group is interested in investing in megawatts throughout the continent. We want to make sure that for every rand we make in fossil fuel we make the same rand in renewables – so that when I die and leave this world, we have a neutral carbon footprint.”
Mehlomakulu indicated that Reatile had invested in juwi, and in the renewable space, because juwi is one of the leading companies that installs and operates wind and solar power projects all over the world: “They are strong in Germany and other parts of Europe. I visited the juwi head office in Germany last year, I was astounded by the technology and the support to the technology I saw. They are a well-capitalised company and are developing projects all over Africa and in South Africa.”
Reatile also revealed it may take an equity stake in Juwi’s operations and maintenance unit through a separate transaction.
Link to full press release here
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
