Automotive Cells Company (ACC) announced the closing of a 4.4 billion euro project financing for the development of three gigafactories for lithium-ion battery cell production in France, Germany, and Italy.
Deutsche Bank is one of the four European banks tasked as Underwriter, Lender, and Hedging Bank on this transaction. With seamless cooperation across coverage and product teams in the Corporate Bank and Investment Bank, the deal is an excellent example for our global growth strategy in energy transition related Project Financings. The Deutsche Bank underwritten amount of 1.1 billion euro is also contributing to the bank’s sustainable finance target.
A joint venture between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies, through its subsidiary Saft, ACC will use the proceeds to fund its first gigafactory in Billy-Berclau Douvrin (BBD), France, which started the production of battery modules for Stellantis in December 2023, as well as to develop a second block in BBD, the first block in Germany and another double block in Italy.
The project is recognised by the EU as an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) and will accelerate the development of ACC as a key player in the battery industry to equip high-performance, low-carbon electric vehicles.
The transaction is the first debt underwriting globally at this scale in this emerging sector with Deutsche Bank taking lead roles , ranging from financing to hedging. It is also the third giga-size transaction closed in recent weeks as part of the of DB growth strategy in Project Finance, following recent announcements of Northvolt ($5 billion) and H2 Green Steel (€ 4.2 billion), in which Deutsche Bank acted as Mandated Lead Arranger.
Source– Deutsche Bank Backs €4.4 Billion Gigafactory Expansion to Power Europe’s EV Revolution – ESG News
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Associate Director, Investment Banking
Prachurjya has over 16 years of experience in investment banking with Acuity Knowledge Partners. At Acuity, he has led sector and product-specialist pilot teams across Capital Markets, ESG, Debt Advisory, Loan Syndications, Metals & Mining and Real Estate. He has been actively involved in setting up and on-boarding new ESG Advisory, ESG DCM and Sustainable Finance teams for various bulge bracket investment banks. Within DCM and Rating Advisory, he has been instrumental in helping the clients achieve over 30% in annual savings on both regular and adhoc tasks through standardization of the outputs and deployment of our proprietary BEAT tools.
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Puja has 6 years of extensive experience in ESG, Climate Change & Sustainability and she is supervising the ESG team at Acuity. She also has diverse experience in conducting ESIA, EHS compliance audits, ESG Risks and Controls, EHS & ESG Due Diligence assessments. Prior to joining Acuity, she was working with companies like KPMG Global Services, EY India and ERM India. She has expertise in provisioning extensive research requirements for clients through preparation of Peer Benchmarking, Target Compilation, Sustainability report, Sustainable Finance Updates and Sectoral ESG Thematic Detailing Engagement.
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