Irish company Yuno buys one of North’s biggest energy suppliers

Wedoany.com Report-Nov 1,  Northern Ireland gas supplier Firmus Energy, which has 110,000 domestic customers, has been sold to an Irish company.

Yuno Group, the holding company for Yuno Energy and PrepayPower, announced its acquisition of Firmus (Supply) yesterday.

It said customers of Firmus would not be affected by the change in ownership.

Firmus’s distribution arm is not included in the deal. The company is one of the North’s biggest energy suppliers and was previously part of Firmus Energy.

It continues to operate the Ten Towns Gas Network in the North.

It is the first deal north of the Border for Yuno Energy and gives it a major presence in the energy market there.

Other Irish companies are already operating on both sides of the Border, such as Northern Ireland Electricity Networks parent company ESB.

Yuno Group is the holding company for Yuno Energy and PrepayPower in Ireland.

It said the deal made it the largest gas supplier in the North by volume, and left the group with 410,000 gas supply customers on the island of Ireland, and 600 staff.

Yuno Group is led by Cathal Fay, who founded the business in 2009, and is based in Sandyford Business Park, in Dublin.

It is one of the largest operators in the electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland.

It said it uses “a sophisticated hedging operation” to enable its companies to provide market-leading prices for gas and electricity.

Mr Fay, founder and chief executive of Yuno Group, said: “This is a transformational deal for the group.

“It increases our customer base by a third, hugely increases our customer numbers in gas, and opens up an exciting new avenue for continued growth in a new market.

“We believe we can add real value to Firmus Energy’s strong platform, and that the transaction will greatly strengthen our overall business.

“We recognise the outstanding service provided to customers of Firmus Energy and we are committed to building upon this to further enhance the services we offer to all our customers across Northern Ireland.”

Yuno Group was advised by Tughans and KPMG. Firmus Energy was advised by IBI Corporate Finance, Carson McDowell and PwC.