Amprion holdingklimaVest invests in electricity grids for the first time

klimaVest acquired for the first time a shareholding of around six percent in the Düsseldorf-based M31 holding company and thus an indirect shareholding of around 4.5 percent in the transmission system operator Amprion. Commerz Real already founded M31 in 2011 for a consortium of institutional investors, acquired 74.9 percent of the shares in Amprion from RWE and managed the holding as an asset manager for over ten years. The current seller of the shares of around six percent is Ärztliche Beteiligungsgesellschaft S.A. (AEBG), which is backed by a consortium of five healthcare plants under the management of Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe. AEBG will remain in place even after the sale of the holding of the largest shareholders of M31. Non-disclosure was agreed on the purchase price.

The balance sheet total of Amprion GmbH stood at around EUR 17.6 billion at the end of 2024, while operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) stood at around EUR 1.2 billion.

With this investment, Klimavest intends to invest in the long-term expansion and modernisation of the electricity grids in Germany and is expanding its existing portfolio of wind and solar farms to include the grid infrastructure asset class. 

According to Commerz Real, electricity grids are a highly regulated asset class that offers investors a stable return on tied-up capital. This is regularly reviewed by the Federal Network Agency and determined on the basis of objective criteria.

Amprion is the operator of Germany’s second longest electricity transmission network, covering a total of around 11,000 kilometres in western and southwestern Germany. Headquartered in Dortmund, the company also establishes direct connections to offshore wind farms in the North Sea and is connected to electricity grids in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Austria and Switzerland. It thus plays a central role in the success of the energy transition in Germany and Europe. By the end of 2029, Amprion plans to invest around 36.4 billion euros in the expansion and modernisation of its transmission power grid. In addition to M31, RWE holds a 25.1 percent stake in Amprion.