By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
The German automotive giant BMW is to buy a stake in the British company which produces and installs half of the UK's charging points for electric cars.
Sky News can reveal that BMW, which manufactures some of the world's most popular luxury cars, is to buy a small shareholding in Chargemaster.
The deal, which is expected to be announced on Thursday, will underline the potential importance of electric cars to the future of BMW, which plans to launch its first model - the i3 - next week.
BMW's purchase of the shares comes as Chargemaster pursues a flotation on London's junior AIM stock market in an attempt to raise funds for expansion.
The German car-maker is likely to invest roughly £500,000 in Chargemaster stock, giving it a stake of about 2%, according to people familiar with the deal.
Chargemaster, which is based near Luton, is a beneficiary of Government plans to encourage motorists to switch to electric vehicles, with the European Commission demanding that 795,000 charging points are installed across the Continent by 2020.
The UK Government is subsidising up to 75% of the cost of domestic charging points, according to the British company's flotation documents. Annual European demand for electric vehicle charging infrastructure is expected to reach $1bn (£650m) by 2021.
It makes money by supplying home charging units to the likes of Nissan, Renault and Toyota, and produces ranges for workplace and public use.
The BMW shareholding is expected to be trumpeted by Chargemaster as a blue-chip endorsement of its business. The two companies already have a strategic partnership under which the British firm is installing electric charging infrastructure on BMW premises.
To date, however, the growth of electric cars has been constrained by the dearth of public charging points. A network is being set up by Chargemaster in the UK under the brand Polar.
The cost of the vehicles may also be prohibitive from consumers' perspective. BMW announced this week that the i3 would cost 34,950 euros (£30,170), a big premium to the price of comparable conventional cars made by the group.
Chargemaster was set up by David Martell, the entrepreneur who made his first fortune from the creation of the Trafficmaster satellite navigation system.
Mr Martell owns 50% of the company, with the flotation of Chargemaster crystallising a paper fortune worth more than £10m. Other investors are understood to include Lord Beaverbrook, the former Conservative treasurer.
Norbert Reithofer, BMW's chief executive, said in relation to the company's electric car development earlier this year that "being the spearhead of change means taking a calculated risk".
Renault, the French car-maker, is also developing an electric marque, the Zoe.
A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that an announcement was planned, while Chargemaster declined to comment.
Last year, Chargemaster made a gross profit of £1.24m on sales of £3.6m.
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