Fastned Acquires MisterGreen Charging Network
Today, Fastned acquired the fast-charging company MisterGreen. MisterGreen is the fast-charging provider of the EV lease company of the same name.
MisterGreen started early with its network, and acquired some of the best locations along the highways in the Randstad, the multi-kernel ring of several cities, the largest being Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. The 16 MisterGreen stations are a welcome addition to the ~100 Fastned stations in the Dutch charging paradise.
Fastned had just announced it would slow down the opening of new stations to preserve its cash balance. In this time of economic uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, high liquidity was the best way to prepare for bad times ahead.
The acquisition was made by taking 100% of the company’s shares, to the value of €1.98 million, with 165,000 new depositary receipts of Fastned. The dilution is 1.1% of Fastned’s outstanding stock. Without knowing the details, this sounds like a great price for both companies. Without the visibility of FastNed and its large customer base, it is hard to make the MisterGreen network profitable. Expanding the network is costly and not its core business. Fastned realizes significant growth in the most profitable part of the country.
In the recent General Meeting of Shareholders, Fastned showed that its business model is working. With about 1% of the Dutch auto fleet being fully electric, the EBITDA of the stations becomes positive. In 2021, that percentage will rise to 2% in the Netherlands and around 1% in neighboring countries. Fastned is expanding into Germany, Belgium, and the UK. It has locations in Switzerland and ambitions for the rest of Europe.
The goal is Dutch 200 stations and a thousand in Europe. As an enthusiastic user of the Fastned network, I can tell that 200 stations for this small country is enough for 5–10% of the fleet fully electric. That leaves a lot of room for healthy competition.
It also implies that Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria need 100 stations each, at a minimum. To have decent coverage of Germany, 1,000 stations is just adequate. France, the UK, Italy, Spain, and Portugal need another 3,000.
Tesla and Ionity are the only competitors. Ionity is too expensive, and Tesla can hardly service its own drivers. It looks like Fastned is seeing the same high growth curve as the electric vehicle market in its main markets. Here’s a look back at the company and its plans two years ago, from its headquarters in Amsterdam:
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