Launch of UK energy storage fund GRID sale process cannot be confirmed
Key Facts
The Nov. 2 announcement that a formal sale process had been launched for Gresham House Energy Storage Fund could not be verified: the disclosure link could not be opened, and no independent confirmation from an official source or available high-profile report was found. It therefore cannot be established that the board invited offers for the entire share capital or that the fund announced an objective of maximising shareholder value. Available information contains no details of potential buyers or an offer price. There is also no documented confirmation of a share-price reaction following the news. The fund is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker GRID and invests in utility-scale battery energy storage systems.
If the process is confirmed, it would mark a shift from the board’s stated position on Sept. 15. In that announcement, the board said it had concluded that launching a formal sale process at that time “would not be in shareholders’ interests.” That earlier position does not establish that a process began later, but it shows the board had rejected one at the previous stage. Shareholders had called for a sale to be considered earlier, amid a campaign led by PrimeStone Capital. The firm asked the board to prepare to launch a formal process in September 2026.
In a public letter dated June 30, 2026, PrimeStone said it owned about 7% of the fund and asked the board to prepare for the process. Morningstar and PR Newswire reported that the letter urged the board to “prepare to launch a formal sale process in September 2026.” The letter preceded the board’s Sept. 15 position ruling out a process at that time. Available information does not establish whether the shareholder campaign led to a new announcement on Nov. 2. There are also no documented details of the process’s terms or timetable.
The fund’s operating results point to an improvement in the first half of 2026. In a trading update issued on Sept. 2, the fund said net asset value per share was 131.30 pence on June 30, compared with 113.34 pence on Dec. 31, 2025, an increase of 15.8%. Portfolio revenue was £34.7 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were £23.5 million. The figures were up 9.5% and 14.5%, respectively, from the first half of 2025. These figures reflect performance during the financial period and do not in themselves provide evidence of a takeover offer or a possible price.
Chairman John Leggatt said the company had acquired or conditionally agreed to acquire more than 1 gigawatt of new capacity over six months. He added that the first three projects, totalling 397 megawatts, had secured full financing and moved into construction. In May 2026, the fund conditionally added further projects with 777 megawatts of capacity, bringing the total of new projects to 1,174 megawatts. The fund said the projects would more than double its portfolio’s operating capacity. The expansion plan puts battery projects at the centre of the fund’s business as discussion continues about its corporate future.
The company is targeting operation of the Monets Garden and Elland 2 projects in the second half of 2027, followed by the Cockenzie project in the first half of 2028. Gresham House also describes its growth plan as extending storage duration at existing sites, developing projects that would more than double installed capacity, and expanding alternative revenue streams across about half of the portfolio. In the market, GRID shares closed at 94.9 pence on Oct. 30, within a 52-week range of 70.0 to 104.5 pence. This is a price reading as of that date and does not reflect a confirmed response to the Nov. 2 announcement. Available information contains no confirmed details of the next step in the reported sale process.