French shipping company CMA CGM Group is a new investor in €2 billion (US$1.95 billion) clean hydrogen infrastructure fund.
Hy24, the joint-venture between FiveT Hydrogen, the clean hydrogen-enabling investment partner, and Ardian, a private investment house, has announced the closing of its first impact Fund at €2 billion of allocations. The €2 billion Fund capital aims to be committed within the next six years.
"It is the world’s first and largest infrastructure fund to invest exclusively in the entire clean hydrogen value chain," said Hy24 in a statement.
The Fund’s creation has been supported by the founding anchor investors Air Liquide, VINCI Concessions, TotalEnergies, Plug Power, Chart Industries and Baker Hughes and it has then attracted more than 50 prominent investors from 13 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia, including major industrial companies, corporations, banks, pension funds and insurance companies – industrial anchor investors, including LOTTE Chemical, Airbus, and Snam, Enagás, GRTgaz (together as one anchor partner), and the financial anchor investors AXA, Crédit Agricole Assurances, CCR, Allianz, CDPQ and JBIC – as well as other key investors, including Ballard, Schaeffler, Groupe ADP, EDF, Caisse des dépôts, DBJ and Itochu.
Other new financial investors include Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, Nuveen, ERAFP, Groupama, Société Générale Assurances, BBVA and Norinchukin.
Pierre-Etienne Franc, co-founder and CEO of Hy24, commented, "Hy24, through the Clean H2 Infra Fund, has rapidly gathered an impressive group of industrial and financial leaders committed to moving the hydrogen agenda forward significantly. With €2 billion of commitments, this fund will spur on the deployment of up to €20 billion in assets of strategic value to the industry in the next six years, performing for our investors and helping to decarbonize the global economy."
Hy24 aims to drive the scale-up of the clean hydrogen economy with first-mover investment in sustainable projects.
The capital raised through the Fund has participated in the €110 million fundraising of H2 MOBILITY Deutschland, the operator of Europe’s largest network of hydrogen stations.
In addition, the Fund has participated in the €200 million financing round of Hy2Gen, an operator of production sites for decarbonized hydrogen and its derivatives, with CDPQ as a co-investor.
The Fund has also acquired a 30% stake in Enagás Renovable, a developer of renewable hydrogen projects, subsidiary of Enagás, the Spanish Transmission System operator.
