Transaction

Clearwater advises VODA A/S on the sale to Babcock & Wilcox, Inc.

Transaction

VODA sold to B&W

Sell-side

Undisclosed

Role

Adviser to VODA on the sale to B&W

Sector

Industrial & Chemicals
Energy & Utilities

Region

Denmark

Clearwater has advised VODA, a multi-brand service provider for large scale waste-to-energy and biomass-to-energy markets, on the sale to the US-listed global energy and environmental solutions provider, Babcock & Wilcox (B&W).

VODA delivers service and maintenance focused on optimising the operation of renewable energy generation plants for both private and public customers.

Since its establishment in 2018, VODA has in record pace grown to captivate a leading Scandinavian market position, with its one-stop-shop service provider concept for customers. The company is founded on a disruptive business model and a dynamic organisation with extensive industry experience, that innovated the traditional service provider business model to improve alignment between service offering and customer needs.

B&W is a global energy and environmental solutions provider, generating approximately $600m (€517m) in revenue annually. With more than 150 years of experience, B&W is recognised for its history of excellence in engineering and technological innovation in the energy generation industry.

The strategic acquisition combines VODA’s and B&W’s strengths and takes on the strong foundation that VODA has built at an impressive pace creating a solid baseline to further expand the service business in Europe’s fast-growing renewable energy market while strengthening the customer and market position significantly.

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I have been involved in more than 40 acquisitions, but this is the first time as an owner. It can easily get emotional when you sell your company, and it is important to be able to take that element out of the context and give empowerment to professionals to handle the process correctly. I contacted Clearwater because I needed exactly that. We are a small team at VODA and it was important that those who operated it could concentrate on that during the entire process. The team at Clearwater made that possible because they handled the process in a very professional way and with a large respect for our expectations. B&W is the right strategic owner to continue working on VODA’s strategy with respect for the employees and the foundation, that the company’s success is built on.

Christopher Nysted Sørensen, CEO, VODA
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VODA’s management has at record pace built a Scandinavian market leader within its field. This could only be achieved by leveraging extensive industry knowledge into a disruptive business model, that allows VODA to be vastly more agile than its peers. It has been our utmost pleasure to advise management and the shareholders of VODA, and I’m convinced that VODA will continue to thrive under the new ownership. Finally, VODA also represents a growing trend in the market, as many non-renewable players, in particular from the US, want to move into the renewables market aggressively. Hence, we currently see substantially more interest in the renewables space in Denmark.

Carsten Rydahl, Partner, Clearwater

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