HyGear and Xebec announced on Tuesday that the shareholders of both companies have reached an agreement. The Canadian group buys the Arnhem-based company for 82 million euros, of which 42 million in cash and the rest in shares of Xebec. HyGear remains under as HyGear, Van Driel remains director. At the same time, he will lead Xebec Europe.
It's really hard driving on hydrogen right now. That market now makes up half of our orders
Marinus van Driel, HyGear
Acquiring capital through IPO
"We are not competitors, our technologies complement each other", stresses Van Driel "Xebec is mainly in the biogas plants, we are in the hydrogen." Xebec was looking for a partner who could help them enter the growing market of hydrogen. HyGear was considering a move to the stock market to raise capital in order to expand rapidly as hydrogen is actually starting to break through worldwide.
Van Driel: ,,Honestly, I only knew Xebec from hearing. We met sporadically, especially in Southeast Asia, where we have a branch in Singapore. There we were asked to convert biogas plants for conversion of the energy into hydrogen." The chief executive of hydrogen company Hydrogenics suggested Van Driel contact the CEO of Xebec this year. "That was just after the summer."
Pioneer on Kleefse Waard
After its founding in 2002, HyGear was the great hydrogen promise of Arnhem. With a few engineers, the company started at the Kleefse Waard Industrial Park, as one of the first tenants. Van Driel was already counting on a breakthrough of hydrogen as clean energy.
When we started, the gas for the first users was transported from central locations such as the Botlek near Rotterdam where it was produced to other places. But as soon as you have to drive far, you'll lose more energy to that truck than the hydrogen that's in that truck. Then you'll stop after 30 miles. We wanted to change that with hydrogen production at the gas station itself. We were able to develop this technology thanks to Oost NL, the development company that stimulates the economy in Gelderland and Overijssel on behalf of the state government. East NL took over us for a third part."
Competition from electric cars
Adversity was there, too. The hydrogen vehicle market initially had a difficult time. "That always surprised me," says Van Driel. Electric cars did have the wind with them. Even if it has drawbacks. I mention the high weight of the batteries in the vehicles, the long charging times, the polluting components at the end of battery life."
Everyone was interested, to our surprise. We're really on gold, we thought at the time.
In order to survive, the rudder went over. In 2007, HyGear switched to supplying hydrogen plants for the industry. The company was able to focus on this with the help of Oost NL.
Hydrogen-powered taxi power stations
The industrial market gave HyGear wings. Van Driel: ,,But it's really hard driving on hydrogen. That market now makes up half of our orders. These are now mainly forklifts, buses and small fleets of car vehicles, such as taxi stations."
The hunger for hydrogen has doubled production at HyGear in recent years. Van Driel: ,,It is of course a shame to miss opportunities because you have too little growth capital. Last year, Oost NL was prepared to support us with a loan of 5 million euros in order to be able to proceed. But they also indicated that we needed to look for investors in the market in order to continue to grow."
'Gold for investors'
A business plan for the future was appreciated by many investors. Everyone was interested, much to our surprise. We're really on gold, we thought at the time." In order to really go to the Amsterdam stock exchange, HyGear had to raise 20 million euros in assets. That turned out to be more complicated than thought, because of opposing interests between different types of shareholders.
Those head breakers came to an end when Xebec came alongside. "We are already at the fair," was the message. Then you have that access to the capital market. Together, we are big enough to justify that stock market listing."
Hydrogen plants in 18 countries
HyGear hydrogen plants are currently in place in 18 countries. Van Driel: ,,The main focus is in Europe, especially in Spain, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. England are starting to grow up too. We are fairly strongly represented in Turkey, Russia, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea and the United States. In America, it's all about refueling vehicles. There's four installations there. Two more will be added this year.
In Europe you see a mix of industrial refuelling and refuelling of vehicles. In Asia, we supply the installations only for industry, except for a single tank system for vehicles in Taiwan."
Employs nearly 90 people
The company now employs almost 90 people. Van Driel: ,,I count our people in Singapore, that's ten. Now that we are working with Xebec, we can increase the number of customers together and also improve our service. At the moment when there is a demand in Malaysia for a biogas treatment system, it is easier to do so from Singapore than from Canada. Xebec, in turn, can help our customers in America faster."
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