AP2, GIC, Temasek and IMAS allocate €1.5bn to green steel project in Sweden
In what is considered the largest private placement in Europe so far this year, a range of large asset owners from Europe and Asia have agreed to allocate just over €1.5 billion to a new green steel project in Sweden.
$37bn Swedish pension fund AP2 is one of the main backers of the project, as well as another Swedish pension heavyweight, $77bn, Stockholm-based AMF Pensionsförsäkring.
Practically every major sovereign wealth fund in Singapore has also agreed to allocate funds as Temasek, GIC and IMAS are all joining the green steel venture.
Net Zero Investor Understands Temasek has played a key role in raising funds across Singapore. It is not the city-state's largest state-owned sovereign wealth fund (SWF), but generally considered the most outward-looking investor, as it uses billions in federal reserves to make investments in Singapore, China, and North America, as well as Europe and some emerging economies.
In March of this year, it held a global portfolio with an estimated value of around $287 billion.
Choo Yong Cheen, chief investment officer of private equity at Singapore’s $769 billion GIC sovereign wealth fund and manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves, explained why his fund agreed to come on board.
“As a long-term investor, we are committed to providing capital to develop solutions that help decarbonize the real economy. Since our first round of investment, H2 Green Steel has made significant progress in building the world's first green steel plant,” he said.
“H2 management work towards this first-of-its-kind project in the hard to abate industry," Yong Cheen said.
"The calibre of investors that are backing us is impressive. Some of the most professional institutions, investors and industrial companies globally are part of this."
Large investor pool
The private placement was co-led by investor Hy24, together with existing investors Altor and Just Climate. Other investors that have agreed to free up funds are Cristina Stenbeck, Hitachi Energy, Kinnevik, Schaeffler, Vargas and Wallenberg Investments holding company FAM.
Altor Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the DACH region, is also part of the project.
Co-managing Partner Klas Johansson said he and other investors were "clearly impressed” by the H2 achievements to date.
“We will significantly increase our engagement in H2GS in this next important phase when the company is set to build the world’s first large-scale green steel plant,” he shared.
Henrik Henriksson, the current CEO of H2 Green Steel, said he was "delighted" that some of the biggest names in the net zero investment community agreed to come on board.
“The calibre of investors that are backing us is impressive. Some of the most professional institutions, investors and industrial companies globally are part of this," Henriksson pointed out.
He said Morgan Stanley acted as sole financial advisor to his company.
“€1.5 billion is the largest private placement in Europe this year and the appetite to invest in us proves both our solid business case and the market demand for green steel," Henriksson added.
"H2 management work towards this first-of-its-kind project in the hard to abate industry."
‘World’s first large-scale green plant’
The group of investors will collectively finance the construction and development of H2 Green Steel’s new green steel plant, to be based in Boden, Sweden.
Groundworks have been ongoing on the site in Boden since the summer of 2022.
“This will finance the world’s first large-scale green steel plant and Europe’s first giga-scale electrolyzer,” said Henriksson.
“We will produce green steel, reducing CO₂ emissions with up to 95 percent compared to traditional steelmaking,” he added.
“By replacing coal with green hydrogen powered by fossil-free electricity, water and heat become our primary emissions. And steel is only the beginning – our expertise in green hydrogen will enable us to decarbonize other heavy industries.”
Since launching in 2021, H2 Green Steel raised around €1.8 billion of equity in three financing rounds. The company closed its series A equity round of €86 million in May 2021 and announced the close of its series B1 round of €260 million in October 2022.
On the debt side, H2 Green Steel announced in 2022 the structure for its debt financing of over €3.5 billion and renewed commitment letters in July 2023.
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