Allego Holding B.V., a leading pan-European electric vehicle charging network, announced a business combination with Spartan Acquisition Corp. III (“Spartan”), a publicly-listed special purpose acquisition company. The transaction will create a leading publicly traded pan-European EV charging company.
Upon completion of the proposed transaction, the combined company will operate under the Allego name, and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ALLG”. The transaction values Allego at a pro forma equity value of approximately $3.14 billion. Expected total gross proceeds of $702 million will fund the Company’s future growth through the deployment of additional public EV charging sites, as it focuses on delivering fast and ultra-fast chargers and continues to build its technology moat.
Founded in 2013, Allego is a leading EV charging company in Europe and has deployed over 26,000 charging ports across 12,000 public and private locations, spanning 12 European countries. In 2018, the Company was acquired by Meridiam, a global long-term sustainable infrastructure developer and investor, which provided necessary capital to enable the expansion of Allego’s existing global network, services and technologies. The Company’s charging network includes fast, ultra-fast, and AC charging equipment. The Company takes a two-pronged approach to delivering charging solutions, providing an owned and operated public charging network with 100% renewable energy in addition to charging solutions for business to business customers, including leading retail and auto brands.
The Company’s charging solutions business provides design, installation, operations and maintenance of chargers owned by third parties. Allego’s chargers are open to all EV brands, with the ability to charge light vehicles, vans and e-trucks, which promotes increasing utilization rates across its locations. Allego has developed a rich portfolio of partnerships with strategic partners, including municipalities, more than 50 real estate owners and 15 OEMs. As additional fleets shift to EVs, Allego expects to leverage its expansive network of fast and ultra-fast chargers to service these customers, which see above average use-rates.
Allego’s proprietary suite of software, developed to help identify and assess locations and provide uptime optimization with payment solutions, underpins the Company’s competitive advantage. Allamo™ allows the Company to select premium charging sites to add to its network by analyzing traffic statistics and proprietary databases to forecast EV charging demand using over 100 factors, including local EV density, driving behavior and EV technology development. This allows a predictable, cutting-edge tool to optimize those locations that are best positioned for higher utilization rates.
Allego EV Cloud™ is a sophisticated customer payment tool that provides essential services to owned and third-party customers, including authorization and billing, smart charging and load balancing, analysis and customer support. This service offering is integral to fleet operators’ operations and enables the Company to provide insight and value to the customer, in addition to driving increased margins through third-party service contracts and operational and maintenance margins.
Allego continues to benefit from a European EV market that is nearly twice the size of the United States’ EV market, with an expected 46% CAGR from 2020 to 2025. Based on this projection, the number of EVs in Europe is expected to grow to nearly 20 million by 2025, as compared to 3 million today. The combination of a high urbanization rate and a scarcity of in-home parking means European EV drivers require fast, public EV charging locations that provide reliable and convenient charging. As part of the Company’s expansion plans, Allego will focus on fast and ultra-fast charging locations, which maximize utilization rates, carry higher gross margins and are required for fleet operators and EV drivers.
Additionally, stringent European CO2 regulations for internal combustion engines (ICE) and highly favorable incentives for electric vehicle purchases are expected to continue to drive adoption rates of EV over ICE vehicles. With a first mover advantage, a robust pipeline of over 500 committed premium sites to be equipped with fast and ultra-fast chargers, and an additional pipeline of another 500 sites, the Company is well positioned to execute its growth objectives and drive value creation for shareholders.
Through a diverse set of partnerships with leading OEMs, fleets, corporations, municipalities, and hosts, the Company has delivered significant revenue growth in recent years, including a 100% revenue CAGR from 2017-2020, and achieved positive operational EBITDA at the end of 2020.
