Helen and German E.ON become majority owners of Liikennevirta

Helen’s associated company Liikennevirta Oy (Virta) is rapidly expanding its operations also in the overseas market. The ownership base of Virta has been developed through directed share issues and share transactions so that Helen and E.ON are now majority shareholders of the company.

“Virta is going through a period of strong growth, and the focus of its operations has shifted from Finland to international activities. It is great to get E.ON on board in the development of the company at this stage,” says President and CEO Pekka Manninen.

“The future of mobility will to a large extent be IT-driven. With our stake in Virta, we belong to a small group of companies with access to development expertise. In this way, we can help shape the future of mobility,” says Frank Meyer, Senior Vice President B2C Solutions, E-Mobility & Innovation at E.ON.

Liikennevirta is the market leader in electric vehicle charging in Finland with the largest public charging network in the country. Liikennevirta also enables global management of the electric vehicle charging business. Liikennevirta’s clients offer electric vehicle charging services in 19 countries. Liikennevirta does not own the charging equipment, but it focuses on producing scalable software and services.

Virta and E.ON are already carrying on strong operational cooperation: consisting of thousands of charging points, E.ON’s electric vehicle charging network in Europe is already using Virta’s technology to a significant extent.  

Helen is strongly involved in the development of electric transport

Helen is actively seeking growth from new energy services and clean energy solutions, as well as through partnerships and investment. Helen has been strongly involved in Virta’s operations from the start, and it has also played a pioneering role in the development of electric transport in Finland. Finland’s first public on-street charging point for electric vehicles was opened in Runeberginkatu as early as in 2009, and since then Helen has actively developed electric transportation in the capital region. Public on-street charging points have been built in different parts of the city and, for example, in commuter car parks along the railway line. The public on-street charging network in Helsinki is the most extensive in Finland, consisting of almost 50 charging points.

Liikennevirta Oy (Virta) is an electric vehicle charging company. Virta's platform connects all key players in the EV ecosystem and provides services for the whole value chain. Virta is the innovation leader of its industry and a top platform in Europe. The platform allows running EV charging services of any size, anywhere in the world. Currently Virta's customers are operational in 19 countries in Europe.

Energy production by Helen Ltd has been awarded as the most efficient in the world. We have more than 400,000 customers throughout Finland, our district heating covers more than 90% of Helsinki’s heating needs, and we are expanding energy-efficient district cooling in Helsinki. We develop increasingly eco-friendly and innovative solutions for the benefit of our customers. We aim to achieve 100% climate neutrality in our energy production. We want to offer our customers the best city energy in the world.

E.ON is an international energy company that focuses on three core businesses: energy networks, customer solutions and renewables. E.ON has around 43,000 employees throughout the world, and the company's headquarters are in Essen, Germany. www.eon.com