Wermuth’s pro-environment fund pulls off second deal in short while

By Andrei Skvarsky.

Wermuth Asset Management, a German firm with most of its business interests in Russia, has reported a second transaction by its sustainable energy-focused Green Gateway Fund, with the previous deal announced just three days ago.

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Green Gateway Fund, whose legal name is Europe-Tatarstan Cleantech Fund, led a group of investors that put 4m Swiss francs (3.3m euros) into OTI Greentech, a Swiss designer of anti-oil pollution technology, as part of a long-term investment programme, Wermuth said in a statement.

The fund has committed itself to investing a total of 7.2m Swiss francs in the Zug-headquartered company under the programme, and plans a second tranche for later this year.

OTI Greentech, whose range of technologies includes solutions for cleaning tanks and ships, rehabilitating contaminated land, and separating and recycling oil from waste streams, plans to mainly use the money to expand its business in North America, the Middle East and Russia, and strengthen its intellectual property portfolio, Wermuth said.

Green Gateway Fund, which has so far raised 110m euros but aims to bring the amount to 250m euros, will appoint a non-executive director to OTI Greentech’s board.

A 100m-euro chunk of the fund’s money comes from the government of Russia’s Tatarstan region. Wermuth has put in 10m euros.

Early this week, Wermuth said the fund had acquired a minority stake in The Mobility House, a Munich-based provider of charging equipment for electric vehicles.

The fund was ceremonially launched in Hanover in July 2011 in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

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