In September this year, BBVA acted as mandated lead arranger for a EUR 801 million syndicated loan facility to Envision AESC to support a planned EUR 1.1 billion battery gigafactory project in northern France, alongside six other lenders. When it starts production in 2025, the factory is expected to support the construction of some 200,000 batteries per year in its initial phase, equivalent to nine gigawatt hours of energy. The batteries will equip electric vehicles to be built by Renault over the next six years.
In November, BBVA followed this by providing the EUR 90 million in guarantees needed by Envision Spain to secure EUR 300 million in loans and grants from the Spanish government’s “Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation” programme. Envision will use the funds for the construction and operation of a lithium-ion battery gigafactory in western Spain with more than ten gigawatt-hours nominal capacity.
The financing will count towards BBVA’s EUR 300 billion sustainable finance target for 2025.
Read more on BBVA’s net-zero targets here.
This case study was originally published in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance 2023 Progress Update (December 2023).
Disclaimer: NZBA shares case studies to promote member banks’ awareness of new approaches, tools, products, services, and transactions related to financing the transition to net zero. Featuring a case study naming a particular bank does not represent an endorsement of all actions from that bank.