Media release: 5th July 2019 Media Release
Alliance Automation today announces a 50% acquisition investment by ERM Power that enables continued exponential growth and assists ERM Power to unlock the ability for commercial and industrial businesses to improve energy productivity.
Alliance Automation is now one of the largest independent electrical engineering and automation solution providers in Australia, with a team of more than 190 people and offices in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Alliance Automation was founded in 2010 and specialises in delivering value-added industrial automation solutions, consultancy and support to customers in a range of sectors including manufacturing, infrastructure, water and waste-water, oil & gas, and mining.
Alliance Automation Managing Director Matt Griffiths today said he was excited about the opportunities for the business’s growth and said ERM Power was a great fit for the business both from a commercial and cultural perspective.
“The ability to partner with a large, reputable Australian business like ERM Power will help us further scale our business and help transform businesses’ systems and processes for greater energy productivity.”
ERM Power CEO Jon Stretch said he was delighted to enter into a strategic relationship with Alliance Automation.
Mr Stretch said the investment was an excellent fit for ERM Power, given Alliance Automation’s core capabilities in technical consultancy, process automation, business intelligence, industrial automation solutions, electrical engineering design, manufacturing, and site installation.
“Ten years of energy policy malaise has caused electricity prices to increase and reliability to decrease. The continued lack of enduring national policy means Australian businesses need to take control of their costs and invest in improving their energy productivity. ERM Power is focussed squarely on helping commercial and industrial businesses manage their electricity supply and demand, which means either reducing how much they use or changing when they use energy to lower cost periods, and that’s where process automation engineering comes in,” he said.
Mr Stretch said Alliance Automation’s expertise in automation and control would deepen ERM Power’s ability to design holistic solutions that would help businesses to use energy more efficiently.
“Demand side control takes on a new importance given the move to a five-minute market,” he said. “Capability in automation and control strategy gives ERM Power greater ability to design and implement demand response strategies for businesses.”
The investment will be immediately EPS accretive and complements ERM Power’s Energy Solutions capability and strategy. It will be financed from existing facilities, consistent with previously announced plans to invest up to $60m in organic and inorganic opportunities in Energy Solutions. Alliance Automation’s annual turnover is more than $35M.
Today’s announcement follows ERM Power’s acquisition in September 2018 of industrial energy efficiency business Out Performers, which bolstered Energy Solutions’ capability in large-scale industrial project expertise, gas productivity and energy efficiency certificate creation.
“The combination of ERM Power and Alliance Automation enables us to drive value through productivity at all levels for manufacturing and complex industrials, in a way we believe to be unmatched in the market,” Mr Stretch said.
ENDS
For further information
Matthew Griffiths
Mobile: +61 458 588575
Email: mattg@allianceautomation.com.au
About Alliance Automation
Alliance Automation was founded in 2010 and has grown strongly and continually since inception. The company is one of the largest independent electrical engineering and automation solution providers in Australia, with a team of more than 190 people and offices in Mackay, Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne and Adelaide. Alliance Automation offers a portfolio of services that complement each other and combine to deliver concept to completion, turn-key projects to customers.
About ERM Power
ERM Power is an Australian energy business for business. ERM Power provides large businesses with end to end energy management, from electricity retailing to integrated solutions that improve energy productivity. Market-leading customer satisfaction has fuelled ERM Power’s growth, and today the Company is the second largest electricity provider to commercial businesses and industrials in Australia by load[1] . ERM Power also operates 662 megawatts of low emission, gas-fired peaking power stations in Western Australia and Queensland, supporting the industry’s transition to renewables.
