The Riverside Company

Energy Exemplar $1.6bn Exit: One of Australia’s Greatest Climate Tech Triumphs

Situation

Addressing climate change is undoubtedly one of this century’s most important pursuits.

So when global private equity investment firm The Riverside Company sold Adelaide-based energy market simulation platform Energy Exemplar for $1.6 billion, it wanted to publicise the case for large institutional funds and venture capital fund managers to move trillions of dollars into climate tech investment.

The Riverside Company is a multinational private equity firm, with a 36-year history and over US $14 billion in FUM, that engages PR agencies globally.

Knowing the sale would be one of the largest exits from a climate tech company in Australian history, we knew it was a crucial opportunity to demonstrate to the market that continued investment in climate tech would be a critical tool in achieving a net zero future.

The challenge arose when the sale involved two private equity giants (Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners) who could easily overshadow the “climate investment” angle we wanted to push, and leave us as a mere mention in the story.

We also only had a few days’ notice to place the story, with the much larger players trying to beat us in breaking the story in the US!

Action

With the clock ticking, we carefully scripted media pitches that directly made the case for investment into climate tech.

We emphasised the 30 percent-a-year growth story experienced by Energy Exemplar since The Riverside Company first invested in 2017, positioning this as the level of returns investors might potentially realise by considering climate tech as an investment category.

We then rushed to pitch the story to Australia’s premier business and financial news key tier-1 and trade journalists, then mass-distributed the release across APAC once the first stories began to drop.

Results

The results were absolutely phenomenal. It became one of the biggest stories in Australia at the time, and the biggest story for climate tech in over a decade.

By jumping in, guns blazing, we secured no fewer than three features in the AFR across Chanticleer, the Tech section, and Street Talk.

We also achieved coverage in The Australian twice, in both DataRoom and the Business section, and were featured prominently in the Daily Telegraph, syndicating across NewsCorp statewide mastheads nationally.

Most importantly, The Riverside Company was the star of the show in almost every single story, and the climate tech angle featured prominently also – meeting the brief perfectly in a matter of (extremely busy!) days.

We also secured coverage in Yahoo!, key regional PE trade press like Private Equity International and AVCJ, and a vast array of local and global finance/sustainability trade publications, ensuring the story reached an incredibly wide audience.

In the words of Keith Davisson, Managing Director, Global Marketing and Communications at The Riverside Company

“I am delighted to share our experience working with Third Hemisphere, our Australian PR firm. From day one, the team at Third Hemisphere has been nothing short of remarkable, consistently going above and beyond to ensure that our brand’s presence in Australia is not only recognised but celebrated. Their understanding of the Australian market is unparalleled, and they have provided us with insightful strategies that have significantly boosted our visibility. Their creativity and dedication have led to impactful media coverage and meaningful industry connections.”