France’s EDF is making its first major energy management play in the United States.

DK Energy US, a Chevy Chase, Md.-based subsidiary of EDF’s energy services arm called Dalkia, acquired Groom Energy Solutions for an undisclosed sum.

Groom Energy Solutions, Beverly, Mass., is a full-service energy services company that helps design, engineer and monitor projects across 20 states.

“This is our first operation [in America]. Our intention is to grow from the Groom platform,” says Gregoire Ignasiak, country manager for DK Energy US. “We surveyed a lot of energy services companies in the last 20 months. A lot of them had a very high cost of sales and a lack of focus. Groom was focused on the right verticals.”

Those verticals include grocery stores, industrial facilities, hotels and universities.

“It became clear we could be much more than a delivery partner to EDF,” says Jon Guerster, chief executive officer of Groom Energy Solutions.

DK is targeting building energy services, distributed energy and energy procurement for commercial and industrial clients.

“By 2020, we want to be a player in these three lines of business across the U.S.,” says Ignasiak.

EDF already has a strong presence in the United States, mostly in its renewable energy division.

“We’ve been following a lot of moves carefully in the last years. It was all happening very quickly,” says Ignasiak. “We’re making an acquisition to bring growth.”

“I am particularly proud of this U.S. acquisition, which is further proof of the commitment and hard work of our international business development teams. I would like to wish everyone at Groom Energy Solutions a warm welcome to the group. They will help us develop our solutions in the United States while continuing to innovate in managing the way electricity is used. This is a huge milestone in our international business development, in a key country with strong growth potential where the EDF group has already established a presence with a workforce of more than 1,600 people,” says Jean-Michel Mazalérat, chairman and CEO of Dalkia.