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Japanese appliance maker Rinnai Corporation, capitalised at ¥439 billion ($4.8 billion) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has acquired a majority stake in Byron Bay-based Smart Energy which called in KPMG to shop the business last year.

Street Talk understands Rinnai’s Australian subsidiary, best known for its heating, cooling and hot water systems, will use Smart Energy as a toehold to get into Australia’s market for renewable energy solutions, where 314,507 residential rooftop solar photo-voltaic systems were installed in 2023. The sector contributed 11.2 per cent of the combined national electricity production.

Smart Energy, founded in 2016 by Beau Savage and Elliot Hayes out of a Byron Bay warehouse, has worked with more than 20,000 clients, installing rooftop solar systems and accompanying batteries as well as heat pumps. The business has 15 outlets and 300 employees, and was shopped with $50 million revenue. Of note, it has been growing the topline at 19 per cent since 2018 on a compounded annual growth basis, and is expected to hit $200 million in sales within a few years.

It’s a marriage between a 104-year-old product manufacturer and a fast-growing service provider. Smart Energy’s co-founders – Hayes and Savage are joined by chief operating officer Jasper Boyschau – are teaming up with Rinnai at a time when the trio sets its sights on expanding beyond their rooftop solar roots to wedge deeper into residential users’ electrification of their homes.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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The worst sell-off in more than four years flooded every corner of the market in red on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 closed 3.7 per cent, or 293.6 points, lower at 7649.6, extending Friday’s 2.1 per cent loss.

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