Zouk Capital, an infrastructure and private equity fund manager, based out of the United Kingdom, has acquired a majority stake in BE Power. BE Power is a digital utility active in electric mobility with its subsidiary BE Charge and in the demand response sector with 4Energia.

Zouk Capital has acquired a 51% stake in BE Power. The acquisition of this majority stake has opened the Italian electric mobility market.

As part of the acquisition, Zouk Capital appointed Paolo Amato as the chairman and Paolo Martini as its CEO. This investment will allow BE Charge to maintain the role of primary-integrated operator for electric mobility and to realize one of the most capillary public charging infrastructures for electric vehicles in Italy.

The contribution to the industrial plan of BE Power will be expressed through the direct experience of Zouk Capital in the field of electric mobility.

“This transaction will give BE Power a further incentive in the electric mobility market in Italy and abroad with the aim of establishing itself as one of the biggest players in the sector,” said Fabrizio Zago, Chairman and CEO of Building Energy Group.

“Zouk will contribute decisively to the development of our industrial plan and to our goal of being the integrated reference operator in the electric mobility in Italy- said Paolo Martini, CEO of BE Power.

According to Zouk Capital, it has since 2016 invested in two companies operating in the electric mobility sector: Instavolt and EO Charging. Moreover, it has been selected by the UK government to collect and manage an investment fund dedicated to the development of public charging infrastructures for electric cars in the U.K. The fund named Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF) will have a size of £400 million, of which £200 million will be raised from the private sector and £200 million from the U.K. government.

Electric mobility is one of the main solutions to the problem of alarming levels of pollution globally. Along with European nations, the developing countries of China and India are taking huge strides in the electric mobility sector. In line with the Government of India’s vision of achieving 100 percent e-mobility by 2030, National E-Mobility Program was launched in March 2018.

If we take India’s case, there has been a spur of activity in the EV segment lately. Just recently, Ola Electric Mobility announced that it had raised a sum of ₹400 billion ($56.4 million) led by several of Ola’s early investors including, Tiger Global and Matrix India and others, as part of its first round of investment. In India, Ola Electric is currently running pilots to deploy electric vehicles and charging solutions, including battery swapping stations, electric 2-wheeler, and 3-wheeler services amongst others.