Heilbronn, January 11 2021 – Completion of ICS Energie acquisition is a major milestone securing a solid position for growth in Europe’s biggest market.
With more than 41 million households, Germany is by far the largest energy market in Europe. In the Netherlands switch rates have increased steadily since market liberalization due to intensified competition and regulatory policy similar to the UK designed to stimulate switching. In the more mature markets like the Netherlands and the UK, switch rates have already surpassed 25%. Germany is only at half this rate due to a later liberalization and a more fragmented market structure. In absolute terms the number of households that switched energy supplier in Germany last year may be double the number in the Netherlands, but there are fives times as many households.
“The German market offers huge growth potential. It’s not only size but relative maturity that makes the market so attractive. More than 50% of all German households have never switched supplier with more than 80% being served by incumbent suppliers. Germany will catch up with the more mature markets and this means a lot more switches for distribution platforms like ICS Energie”, said David Tuohy the CEO of Connecthing.
Connecthing’s subsidiary NutSelect is the leading distribution platform in the Netherlands. Multiple companies with similar business model were identified and after a thorough evaluation Connecthing selected ICS Energie as the best candidate for their entry into the German market. Established in 2008, the company evolved into a leading energy distribution platform for Third Party Intermediaries (TPIs). The ICS platform connects end customers to more than 40 suppliers via 330 sales partners in Germany. Thanks to management’s strong focus on quality and customer satisfaction, ICS Energie has also been able to establish a number of exclusive partnerships with key suppliers. Marcus Lünig will continue in the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Vitor Lopes as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).
“Marcus and I are really excited about joining the Connecthing family. We are today where NutSelect was two or three years ago. There is so much to learn from our new colleagues in the Netherlands. We cannot wait to implement their best-in-class data analytics. This will help us accelerate growth and deliver a service to our sales partners and energy suppliers that goes way beyond what the competition can do in Germany”, said Vitor Lopes.
The acquisition of ICS Energie is an important first step in Connecthing’s international expansion as it creates a solid foundation for Connecthing to become Europe’s leading energy switching platform. Once ICS Energie has been integrated into the group the company plans to launch a new digital auto-saver service in Germany similar to Vanzelf in the Netherlands. Connecthing acquired all of the outstanding shares of ICS Energie from the founder and sole shareholder. No further details of the transactions have been disclosed.
