Verkor, a manufacturer of lithium-based battery cells and modules, secured over €1.3 billion (~$1.41 billion) in green financing supported by 16 commercial banks and three public banks. These funds will be directly allocated to the construction and financing of Verkor’s first gigafactory located in Dunkirk, France, with an initial production capacity of 16 GWh/year.
Following this recent deal, Verkor has so far secured over €3 billion (~$3.2 billion) in funding for its first gigafactory and the Verkor Innovation Centre.
The European Investment Bank invested around €400 million (~$434 million) to Verkor’s venture which includes €270 million (~$293 million) in direct loans under the European Commission’s InvestEU program and €130 million (~$141 million) of intermediated loans to the commercial banks funding the deal.
The commercial banks involved in this funding round include ABN AMRO Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Banco Santander, La Banque Postale, Caisse d’Epargne et de Prévoyance Hauts de France, Caisse d’Epargne Rhône-Alpes, Coöperatieve Rabobank, ING BANK N.V, KfW IPEX-Bank, Kommunalkredit Austria, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Natixis, SMBC Bank International, Société Générale and Standard Chartered Bank. These banks are contributing €961 million (~$1.04 billion) in senior loans, €282 million (~$306 million) of which are guaranteed by the French government under its “Garantie des Projets Stratégiques” (GPS), operated by BPI Assurance Export.
Additionally, Banque des Territoires, Caisse des Dépôts group, as part of its commitment to industrial redevelopment and accelerating ecological transformation, has provided a bridging loan of €130 million (~$141 million) followed by a subordinated loan of €150 million (~$163 million).
Located in the Dunkirk area, the gigafactory is expected to be operational in 2025 and create around 1,200 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs over the next two years.
Diadamante, Société Générale, and Macquarie Capital, and Allen & Overy, and Linklaters supported Verkor with financial and legal advisory on this transaction.
Last year, the company secured €1.45 billion (~$1.54 billion) with a mix of equity and debt funding to build its gigafactory. The series C funding totaled €850 million (~$905 million) and was led by Macquarie Asset Management via its fund dedicated to solutions for the energy transition.
According to Mercom’s recently released Q1 2024 Funding and M&A report for Storage & Smart Grid. In Q1 2024, announced debt and public market financing in the Energy Storage sector totaled $10.5 billion in six deals, increased 855% YoY compared to Q1 2023, when $1.1 billion was raised in eight deals.
