UAE launches attack on green energy company backed by Labor donor Dale Vince

A suitor linked to UAE royalty has swooped on a green energy company backed by a Labor donor.

As a result, shares in Good Energy, backed by Dale Vince, soared 19.7 per cent, or 58p, to 353p, valuing it at around £66m.

The undisclosed bid from Dubai-based energy technology company Esyasoft would mean a big payoff for backers including billionaire Vince and the Edwards family behind the country’s first commercial wind farm.

Also hoping for a healthy windfall is Good Energy founder Juliet Davenport, who set it up in 1999 to become one of the UK’s first suppliers of 100% renewable energy.

It now has 275,000 customers. The board is evaluating the unsolicited proposal and will inform investors “when appropriate.”

Her suitor has until 5:00 p.m. on November 25 to leave or make an offer. Esyasoft is linked to the ruling dynasty of Abu Dhabi.

Its controlling investor, Abu Dhabi International Holding Company, is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the royal son of UAE founder Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Vince, 63, is Good Energy’s largest shareholder through his company Ecotricity, which owns a 26.5% stake.

Dubbed “Britain’s richest hippie” with a fortune of around £100 million, he has donated to the Labor Party and green fanatics Just Stop Oil.

He tried to buy Good Energy in 2021, but was rejected. This week, Vince told his fellow rich men threatening to leave the country over Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax rises to “fuck off”.

The Edwards family owns 8.4% of Good Energy. Dubbed the “grandfather of the UK wind industry”, Peter Edwards and his wife Pip built the UK’s first commercial wind farm in 1991.