Namawinelake - Is the ESB Disguising a 2 Billion Power Station Investment in England ?

[C. Flower]

I can't see what the issue is here. ESB has power stations in the UK already e.g. Corby and in Spain, as well as other countries. This investment (IF they are involved) is perfectly in line with their stated objectives as an international company. Such acquisitions would have nothing to do with privatisation plans.

Welcome, srameen.

IF they are involved, what would mainly have caught my attention would be the fact that their involvement had been "kept from view."


The whole legal position of Irish quangos is murky. They hold public assets, but are not accountable to the public and they often act like private companies, rather than service providers.,

Some people would think that a good thing, others, not.

[morticia]

Does it count as a good investment, do we think??

Probably the most relevant issue??

[srameen]

Yes and Yes - probably. In light of regulatory restrictions on developing generation plant here.

[C. Flower]

Yes and Yes - probably. In light of regulatory restrictions on developing generation plant here.

Is that environmental restrictions, or capacity restrictions ?

[PaddyJoe]

NWL has updated the blog entry to confirm that the ESB today denied having any involvement in this project.
Looks like Private Eye were adding two and two and getting five

[C. Flower]

NWL has updated the blog entry to confirm that the ESB today denied having any involvement in this project.
Looks like Private Eye were adding two and two and getting five

Not the first time, and it won't be the last.

[C. Flower]

Another company that the ESB says it doesn't own...

http://www.independent.ie/business/i...s-2953462.html

A report by Roisin Burke -

AN executive at the ESB's green energy fund made over €700,000 last year, accounts show.

Some €738,750 of profits went to an executive at Novusmodus, the private equity house set up to run the ESB's €200m greentech investments. The payment is one-third more than outgoing ESB boss Padraig McManus's €500,000 package, and almost three times the salary of incoming CEO Pat Doherty.

With its head office in Mayfair, London, Novusmodus leads 'smart' tech and renewable energy projects on behalf of the ESB, including in a company that installs solar panels on roofs, a laser light technology firm and an energy-efficient lighting business.

Novusmodus is led by Richard Nourse, a former Merrill Lynch executive. Operating profit was around €1.98m for the year on turnover of about €6.1m.

Recent investments include a share of a €2.3m investment in solar panel company Lumicity and part of a €100m investment in Irish company Wind Energy Direct.

An ESB spokesman said: "Novusmodus LLP is not owned by ESB and the ESB has no employees in that fund. Any payments made are a matter for Novusmodus."

The Novusmodus website says: "Whilst we are independent, we have a deep relationship with ESB, the Irish utility who are the sole investor in the fund."

Several things here.

-€738,000 seems to be an extraordinary salary in a company with only €1,98m profit.

-what is a "deep relationship" - is a firm with only one investor not a subsidiary?

- is the ESB using its assets - public assets - as collateral in relation to its investment in this firm ?

We seem to be in the process of allowing public resources to be looted to create oligarchs.

[PaddyJoe]

Another company that the ESB says it doesn't own...

http://www.independent.ie/business/i...s-2953462.html

A report by Roisin Burke -



Several things here.

-€738,000 seems to be an extraordinary salary in a company with only €1,98m profit.

-what is a "deep relationship" - is a firm with only one investor not a subsidiary?

- is the ESB using its assets - public assets - as collateral in relation to its investment in this firm ?

We seem to be in the process of allowing public resources to be looted to create oligarchs.

So ESB does not own Novusmodus and does not have employees there. However the ESB 'is the only investor in the fund'
Interesting

[Dr. FIVE]

*twilight zone music*

I love a good semi-state mystery

[DCon]

So ESB does not own Novusmodus and does not have employees there. However the ESB 'is the only investor in the fund'
Interesting

They are an advisor to ESB

We are the investment adviser to ESB's €200m cleantech fund, ESB Novusmodus LP.

http://www.novusmodus.com/aboutus/overview

ESB Relationship and ESB

Whilst we are independent, we have a deep relationship with ESB, the leading Irish utility who are the sole investor in the fund - giving us the combined benefits of both institutional and corporate funds.

As well as direct utility perspective, we gain from ESB's international reach, and standing as a state utility. We also regularly leverage expertise from ESB's dedicated teams in Wind, EV, Biomass, Wave, Smart Grid, Smart Meter, ESCO and other core utility sectors. We pass on these benefits to the fund's portfolio companies.

http://www.novusmodus.com/aboutus/esb

2 former ESB staff on the books

Tomás joined Novusmodus from ESB where he was responsible for the pricing of all electricity and gas sales to large industrial customers. In addition to this Tomás lead the Risk and Regulation function within ESB's deregulated supply business.

http://www.novusmodus.com/team/member/21

John McKiernan is a Partner of Novusmodus, based in Dublin.

John joined Novusmodus from ESB International where he spent twenty years working in international business development in the engineering and power sectors. During this time John held a number of senior management positions including European business development manager, head of gas & power trading and senior project development manager.

John has a BEng in Electronic Engineering from Dublin City University.

http://www.novusmodus.com/team/member/5

[PaddyJoe]

Richard is a Director of Enrichment Holdings Limited, the company
through which the British Government holds its shareholding in
URENCO, having previously been a Director at the Shareholder
Executive, part of the British Government. Richard is also Managing
Partner of Novusmodus LLP, the renewable energy fund of ESB, the
Irish utility. Until 2007, he held senior positions at Merrill Lynch,
including Head of the EMEA Energy and Power Team. During his time
at Merrill Lynch, Richard worked on a wide range of acquisitions,
divestments and capital raisings for companies across the European
energy, utility and waste sectors. Richard started his career in the City
over 20 years ago with Morgan Grenfell. He joined the URENCO Board
in January 2009.

URENCO’s principal activity is the provision of a service to enrich uranium to provide fuel for nuclear power utilities. Its enrichment service is mostly provided on a toll basis using customers’ uranium.

http://www.urenco.com/custom/357/cor...x?profileid=30

[PaddyJoe]

ESB is planning a new power plant in the UK:

ESB plans to invest £750 million to build a new 1,500-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant in Britain which could start operating in 2018, the project's public affairs manager said today.

The power plant, which will run on modern combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) technology, will be on a former chemical works site at Knottingley near Leeds and will require around 1,100 workers during construction and create up 50 permanent jobs once operational.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking38.html