Press Releases

28 June 2007
EEA Fund Management raises $400m for Leaf Clean Energy Company listing on AIM.

EEA Fund Management Limited (EEA), which specialises in the management of high performance equity mandates, life settlements and investment in global emissions markets, has teamed up with Shaw Capital, a subsidiary of the Shaw Group, to launch Leaf Clean Energy Company (“Leaf”).

Leaf was incorporated in May 2007 for the purpose of acquiring interests in, owning, operating and managing clean energy companies and projects primarily in North America. The company’s main investment objective is to achieve long term capital appreciation through its acquired interests in the clean energy sector, as well as through the potential generation and commercialisation of carbon credits derived from these projects. Leaf will be advised by EEA and Energy & Climate Advisors, a joint venture between EEA and Shaw Capital.

Managing Director of EEA, Simon Shaw, said:

“The US is now in the embryonic stages of a fundamental long-term transition to a low carbon economy, which is a massive step forward for clean energy resources. Furthermore, it is our view that the debate on climate legislation in the United States has shifted from ‘if’ to ‘how’. Changes to US political and regulatory landscape have attributed to this including increased industrial support, Democratic control of Congress and the further development of carbon credit markets”.

Ricardo Nogueira, Investment Adviser at EEA, said:

“The clean energy sector is attractive due to the increasing demand for renewable fuel and energy sources, driven by environmental and energy dependence concerns on the one hand and increasing competitiveness as an alternative source of energy on the other”.

EEA believes there are inherent challenges for institutional investors in accessing the renewable energy sector. Opportunities within the sector are often technically complex and relatively small in scale. Institutional investors often lack the in-house resources to access and evaluate such technically complex assets effectively and efficiently and, given the relatively small transaction size of individual projects, may find the amount of time and analysis required to be unpalatable. Leaf, through Energy & Climate Advisors, is well positioned to source, assess and structure transactions in the sector at an early stage. Leaf’s capabilities and access, through Energy & Climate Advisors, to both EEA’s and Shaw Capital’s energy and environmental market knowledge will allow the efficient screening of smaller and more complex projects thereby broadening the scope of opportunities and giving institutional and other investors a means to access project level opportunities within the renewable energy sector.

Simon Shaw concludes:

“EEA Fund Management is now one of the largest and most experienced players in the carbon trading and renewable energy markets. We have seen enormous development in this area of the investment industry and anticipate further growth moving forward.”