Hogan Lovells advises Verkor on its record financing of more than €2 billion

This financing, being a mix of equity, debt and subsidies, is the largest equity raise for a French start up, with more than €850m raised in Series C.

The fundraising was led by Macquarie Asset Management via its Energy Transition Solutions Fund and was recently joined by cornerstone investor Meridiam. Renault Group, EQT Ventures, EIT InnoEnergy, Sibanye-Stillwater, the SPI investment fund operated by Bpifrance, Predica and the Strategic Participations Fund operated by Isalt also participated in this round.

In addition to the equity fundraising, Verkor has obtained the approval of European Investment Bank for €600m debt support and French subsidies for c. €650m.

Founded in July 2020, Verkor is a French industrial company based in Grenoble that aims to ramp up low-carbon battery manufacturing in France and Europe to meet the growing demand for electric mobility and stationary storage in Europe.

The round size, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals, is a minimum of €850 million and could increase in the following weeks.

This financial support and the presence of prominent funding partners demonstrate the business viability of Verkor’s robust development plan, backed by established contracts with tier-one partners, including a long-term commercial partnership with Renault Group. It will not only provide the European automotive industry with low-carbon batteries but will also play a key role to support the European sovereignty on sustainable electric mobility and energy storage.

Matthieu Grollemund and Hélène Parent, Paris corporate partners, said: “These giga projects reflect the ambition to achieve carbon neutral transportation in an incredibly short timeframe. They require a unique set of skills, mixing tech, infra, complex contracts, regulatory and asset back financing capabilities with a particularly large number of stakeholders with distinctive business cultures ranging from large strategic players, state owed parties and PE players. Hogan Lovells is uniquely qualified to navigate these challenging deals successfully”.

The Hogan Lovells team was led by Matthieu Grollemund and Hélène Parent (partners) and included Gautier Valdiguié (senior associate) and Arthur Deschamps (associate) in corporate; Alexander Premont and Cassandre Porgès (partners), Ouassila El Asri (senior associate), Stephanie Saunders (senior associate), Ilene Baltes (senior associate), Tam Tran (associates) and Alban de Roucy in Banking; Eric Paroche (partner), Eléonore Castagnet and Pierre Chellet (associates) in Antitrust; Katia Merlini (partner) and Ailsa Davies (senior associate) in Debt Capital Market; Marion Guertault (partner) and Cristina Sanchez Herran (associate) in employment; Bruno Cantier (partner), Perrine Limousin (counsel), Astrid Layrisse (senior associate) and Jeangély Ampion Liyono (associate) in Infrastructure; Mikael Salmela (partner), Charlotte le Roux (counsel), Jessica Clemens-Jones (senior associate) and Gabriel Lecordier (associate) in commercial contracts and supply chain; Michaël Lévy (partner), Laure Nguyen (counsel) and Margot Derumaux (senior associate) in Real Estate; Xenia Legendre and Thomas Claudel (counsel) in tax; Etienne Barjol (senior associate) in IPMT.

Clifford Chance, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Herbert Smith Freehills, UGGC, Gide Loyrette Nouel and Bredin Prat represented the investors.