Inflexion Private Equity today announced that it has reached an agreement for the sale of their investment in UK Power Reserve, a leading independent developer and operator of flexible power generation in the UK, to Singapore-headquartered integrated energy group, Sembcorp, for an equity value of £216m. Following the acquisition of shares, Sembcorp will consolidate all assets and liabilities of UK Power Reserve, including its net debt.

Headquartered in Solihull, UK Power Reserve was founded in 2010 to meet growing domestic demand for highly flexible reserve power capacity. Since Inflexion’s investment in late 2015, UK Power Reserve has more than trebled capacity to over 500MW – enough to power 375,000 homes in local communities – delivered from 32 rapid-response power stations across England and Wales. The company has grown its revenues from c.£20m to over £80m and its employee headcount from 70 to 150.

Under the ownership of Sembcorp, a further 480 MW in construction and development is expected to come online by 2019, including 120 MW of battery storage assets – one of the biggest such portfolios in Europe. In the UK, factors such as the growth in intermittent renewables, the closure of existing conventional generation and the rise of electrification of the transport sector are leading to increased volatility in the power market. This has generated a greater demand for flexible capacity, which has become the fastest growing sector in the country’s power market today.