ChargePoint Buys European Charging Firm for $295 Million
ChargePoint Buys European Charging Firm for $295 Million
(Bloomberg) -- ChargePoint Holdings Inc. will spend about 250 million euros ($295 million) to buy European e-mobility software company Has.to.be GmbH, expanding the electric car charging network’s presence in one of the world’s fastest growing EV markets.
The planned stock-and-cash transaction is expected to close this year, pending regulatory approval, the two companies said Tuesday. It will be ChargePoint’s first acquisition since the company went public in March, said Chief Executive Officer Pasquale Romano.
The deal is the latest sign that American charging companies, which have been struggling to turn profits, see strong growth prospects in Europe, where electric cars have been more quickly embraced by mainstream buyers. Blink Charging Co. in May bought Antwerp’s Blue Corner N.V. to gain a bigger foothold in the market. ChargePoint is the largest vehicle charging network in the U.S.
Has.to.be software operates about 40,000 networked charging ports and boasts a strong market share in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to a joint statement. ChargePoint already operates in 16 countries in Europe.
“I don’t think you can be in this business if you’re not operating in a large percentage of the world,” Romano said in an interview. He said ChargePoint was drawn to the deal by Has.to.be.’s customer base, team and technology.
“We get a great engineering team that philosophically looks at the construction of the network the same way we do,” Romano said.
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