SSW advised Photon Energy on its acquisition of shares in Lerta S.A. 

A Dutch firm from renewable energy sector, Photon Energy Group has announced that its stake in Lerta S.A., a virtual power plant, has increased from 24.27% to 56.75%. Photon purchased existing shares from PGE Ventures, Newberg and ASI Valuetech Seed Fund for a total of approximately €6.9 million. Photon is now the majority shareholder in Lerta S.A. and aims to acquire the remaining shares from its two founders before the end of 2022. SSW lawyers advised Photon Energy Group on this transaction. 

Lerta is a Polish firm, based in Poznan and founded in 2016. It uses a proprietary AI software platform to provide renewable energy asset optimisation and energy flexibility services. 

Photon Energy provides solar energy solutions in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe and Australia. It has been listed on the WSE’s main market since January 2021. 

Lerta’s entry into the Photon Energy Group will give the Group electricity trading licences in six countries, plus a modern and scalable Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform. It is the third biggest player in the Polish Demand Side Response (DSR) market, with 150 MW of capacity contracted for 2023. 

This acquisition creates new investment opportunities for the Group, involving grid flexibility and other ancillary services as they emerge in markets worldwide, including markets on which Photon does not currently operate. 

The project was led by Tomasz Kwaśniewski, supported by Dawid Brudzisz, Aleksandra Kulik, and Witold Oszczanowski. Anna Sękowska, Joanna Bajda, and Olga Nasiłowska provided tax advice including tax due diligence. Due diligence on the financial side was done by Kinga Regulska-Hofses, Tomasz Sopel, Michał Żurow and Piotr Pawłowski. The team’s work was supervised by dr Szymon Okoń.