KAMPALA, Uganda, October 22: ENGIE has announced that they would be acquiring 100% stake in Uganda-based Fenix International, the company announced through a Press communiqué.

According to the communiqué, the acquisition would allow ENGIE to tap into the solar home systems (SHS) in Africa.

Speaking on the occasion, Bruno Bensasson, CEO of ENGIE Africa, said: “We believe that combining the strengths of ENGIE and Fenix, we will enable faster deployment of SHS to the large African population that is still lacking access to electricity.

“Fenix will be the agile growth engine for ENGIE’s SHS business in Africa and enable us to become a leading profitable off-grid energy services company in the continent, reaching millions of customers by 2020. We do believe that universal access is now reachable in a foreseeable future by the combination of national grids extension, local micro-grids and solar home systems, depending on the local characteristics of the energy demand.”

Bensasson further said that the acquisition would propel ENGIE’s strategy to provide access to decarbonised, decentralised energy by 2020, using the latest digital technologies.

Lyndsay Handler, CEO of Fenix International, added: “Fenix and ENGIE share the belief that universal access to energy is possible and paramount. To date, Fenix has delivered reliable solar power to over 900,000 people in East Africa. By joining forces with ENGIE, we will greatly accelerate the path to our vision. We will continue to relentlessly pursue an exceptional customer experience in all we do and we will invest even more in building a great team with a strong culture.

“Together with ENGIE’s ambitions, experience, talent and long-term investments, we will deliver affordable power and other life-changing products to customers across Africa and make universal access to modern energy a reality.”