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AEW provides loan to help finance France’s first gigafactory

July 09, 2024

AEW, one of the world’s leading real estate investment and asset managers1, announces that it has provided a €42 million loan to finance the €2bn development of France’s first Gigafactory by Verkor, a French business founded in 2020, which is focused on accelerating the production of low-carbon batteries for electric vehicles in Europe.

The project will deliver an initial 16 GWh electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing plant in Dunkirk, France, and is expected to be expanded to 50 GWh by 2030. The gigafactory aims to facilitate the transition to electric mobility in Europe and increase the supply of cutting-edge battery cells, which are in growing demand. The project is expected to be operational by 2025 with an initial production capacity to support the fit out of an estimated 300,000 electric vehicles.

Battery cell manufacturing sits at the heart of Europe’s carbon transition strategy, with the demand for Li-ion batteries expected to grow exponentially by 27% annually from 2022 to 2030 according to McKinsey2, with 90% of demand expected to come from the automobile industry.

The loan has been provided by one of AEW’s private debt strategies and aligns with its aim of financing renewable and energy transition projects with a focus on France. The strategy has financed c. €490M of projects to date3.  

AEW’s private debt platform in Europe comprises a total of 30 professionals in Europe and Asia and has a total of €3.1bn of assets under management4. The private debt platform has invested on behalf of a range of corporate, aircraft, infrastructure and real estate debt funds and separate account mandates.

Jonathan Stevens, Head of Private Debt at AEW Europe, commented: Verkor’s Gigafactory will make a significant positive impact to the supply of EV batteries across Europe once operational and is in line with our strategy of investing in sectors supporting the energy transition in Europe on behalf of our investors. Verkor is an innovator in its field and is capable of creating batteries with better energy density and range, which is highly sought after in the EV industry.

1Source: Institutional Real Estate Inc, Global Investment Managers 2023 Special Report.

2Source: McKinsey, Battery 2030: Resilient, sustainable, and circular, January 2023.

3Source: AEW, as at 2 July 2024.

4Source: AEW, as at end-June 2024.

AEW SA
An affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers
Privately-held French "Société anonyme à conseil d’administration".
Real-estate investment manager under n°T 8324 delivered by the Prefecture de police de Paris.
Share capital: €28,376,400
RCS Paris: B 409 039 914
43 Avenue Pierre Mendès-France 75013 Paris, France
www.aew.com

Natixis Investment Managers
RCS Paris 453 952 681
Share Capital: €178 251 690
43 avenue Pierre Mendès France
75013 Paris
www.im.natixis.com

All opinions are those of the author at the time of publication and are subject to change.

For Professional Investors only. All investing involves risk, including the risk of capital loss.

AEW is an asset-management company dedicated to real estate and private debt and an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers. Natixis Investment Managers is the holding company of a diverse line-up of specialized investment management and distribution entities worldwide. Services and products managed by Natixis Investment Managers are not available to all investors in all jurisdictions.

Provided by Natixis Investment Managers UK Limited which is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (register no. 190258) - registered office: Natixis Investment Managers UK Limited, 4th floor, Cannon Bridge House, 25 Dowgate Hill, London, EC4R 2YA.