Hy24 clean hydrogen fund up and running at €2 billion of allocations

Business & Finance

October 10, 2022, by Ajsa Habibic

Hy24, the joint venture between FiveT Hydrogen and Ardian, has announced the closing of its first hydrogen impact fund – Clean H2 Infra Fund – at €2 billion of allocations, exceeding its initial ambitions.

Launched a year ago, the fund is said to be the world’s first and largest infrastructure fund to invest exclusively in the entire clean hydrogen value chain.

It is focused on scaling proven hydrogen technologies for mature infrastructure assets and aims to play a major role in decarbonising the global economy.

Founding anchor investors include Air Liquide, VINCI Concessions, TotalEnergies, Plug Power, Chart Industries and Baker Hughes.

Since its foundation, the fund has attracted more than 50 investors from 13 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The fund closes now with a new key industrial investor the CMA CGM Group, and new key financial investors Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, Nuveen, ERAFP, Groupama, Société Générale Assurances, BBVA and Norinchukin.

Hy24 informed that the capital raised through the fund has already started to be deployed.

It 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 decarbonised 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.

Hy24 aims to mobilize up to €20 billion of investment capacity over the next six years using its financial firepower and sector know-how drawn from its major strategic investors and an experienced team.

Pierre-Etienne Franc, co-founder and CEO of Hy24, said: “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 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 decarbonise the global economy. This creates the right support for the new and critical hydrogen policy frameworks in our key geographies.”

Laurent Fayollas, deputy head of Infrastructure at Ardian and president of Hy24, added: “We are extremely grateful for the trust and support of our investors. The combination of Ardian’s unique investment and asset management expertise, FiveT Hydrogen’s industry knowledge, the diversity of our investors and our ability to leverage Hy24’s strong deal flow will put us in a unique position to grow this industry at scale into a decisive asset class.”