Japanese banking giant Mizuho has, in recent years, become a financing powerhouse in energy and renewables in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). With its acquisition of Augusta & Co, it is now looking to build similar regional capabilities in advisory.

“With the joint practice, we are hoping to get in the top single digits in the M&A league tables in the region, particularly in the energy sector once the acquisition is closed,” Mizuho’s head of investment banking in EMEA, Slava Slavinskiy said in an interview with Infralogic.

Mizuho is currently a relatively minor player in deal advisory in EMEA, having advised on around USD 18.6bn of deals in the renewables, energy, and power sectors in the region so far, according to Infralogic data, compared with the likes of BNP Paribas and Rothschild, which have advised on transactions of more than USD 200m.

Augusta is a major player by deal count, having advised on 92 deals in these sectors in the region, although the total deal value amounts to USD 6.9bn.

Slavinskiy believes that Mizuho can leverage its strong global position in debt financing – as a loan arranger and provider – to boost its M&A practice. Mizuho was, according to Infralogic data, among the top five banks by deal value globally in infrastructure in the first half of this year.

This point was touched on by Augusta managing partners Mortimer Menzel and James Knight when the planned acquisition by Mizuho was announced in July.

Noting that the transaction combines Augusta’s sector expertise with Mizuho’s energy financing and capital markets strengths, they noted that “as transactions in the renewables sector become more sophisticated and global, they also require more specialist, bespoke advice supported by a wider product base”.

The move to acquire an established M&A business in the energy and infrastructure sector in M&A follows Mizuho’s similar move two years ago, acquiring US-based Greenhill & Co to boost its energy M&A practice in North America.

Greenhill is strongest in North America, having advised on USD 36bn of transactions in the region, but is also a major player in Europe, with USD 15bn of deals there.

Financing powerhouse

Mizuho, is of course, strongest in Japan and Asia more widely but has built sprawling activities in the European and Middle Eastern energy financing markets over the years.

“Over the past six to twelve months, Mizuho has been doing a lot of financing in the UK and overall EMEA markets, including clean power generation, the transmission sector, like the OFTOs, carbon capture and storage, and blue hydrogen,” Slavinskiy said. They are also advising clients on financings, he adds.

Apart from Slavinskiy, an energy sector veteran himself, Mizuho has other experienced hands such, as Mizuho EMEA Managing Director Kieran Douglas, who heads the energy, power, and resources sector and is active in financing, M&A and restructuring transactions.

In the M&A advisory segment, the bank anticipates more activity in the UK, Germany, France, among others, as well as some Middle Eastern markets such as Saudi Arabia for solar power generation projects, as well as hydrogen production, Slavinskiy pointed out.

Mizuho’s acquisition of Augusta is set to reach a financial close this October but in the meantime, the two are working on converging on “who is serving the clients,” Slavinskiy said.

As Augusta has their own clients and relationships and an active M&A practice in the energy transition and infrastructure sectors in Europe, the combined business will be tightly coordinated so that there are “no crossing wires” and the two are able to deploy their commercial expertise jointly.

A similar approach was taken after Mizuho acquired Greenhill in 2023. As a prominent brand in energy and infrastructure advisory in the US as well as EMEA, Greenhill was ranked 22 in the global financial league tables with 57 deals worth USD 58.2bn over the past twelve months.

Greenhill’s prominent deals in Europe and the UK this year include take private of environmental and waste company Renewi Plc, Q Energy’s solar portfolio sale in France and Mula’s large solar portfolio sale in Spain.

The integration between Mizuho and Augusta will step up from October when the acquisition concludes, after which the real work of becoming one of the EMEA energy M&A advisors will begin.