Linklaters has advised ACC on one of the largest debt financings ever in Europe in the automobile sector, securing €4.4 billion in loan facilities to finance the development of three EV battery gigafactories in Europe.
This financing will fund the development, construction and commissioning of cells and modules for electric vehicle battery (EVB) gigafactories in Billy-Berclau Douvrin (France), Kaiserslautern (Germany) and Termoli (Italy).
The financing was underwritten by a consortium of commercial banks (BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING and Intesa Sanpaolo), and benefits from ECA guarantees provided by Bpifrance, Euler Hermes, and SACE.
ACC is supported by its shareholders Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, and Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies. This transaction consolidates ACC’s key position in the battery industry for high-performance, low-carbon emission electric vehicles.
The Linklaters cross-practice and multi-jurisdictional team was led by a Paris-based Energy and Infrastructure team consisting of François April, partner, Samuel Bordeleau, counsel, and Laura Nunes Vicente, associate.
Jeremy Gewirtz (partner, Energy and Infrastructure London), Stephen Le Vesconte (partner, Energy and Infrastructure Paris), Tessa Lee (partner, Energy and Infrastructure Milan), Thomas Schulz, (partner, Energy and Infrastructure Berlin), Michal Hlásek (partner, Banking Frankfurt), Cyril Boussion (partner, Tax Paris), Pierre Tourres (partner, Corporate M&A Paris), Jean-Francois Merdrignac (counsel, IP Paris) and Lionel Vuidard (partner, Employment Paris) provided further assistance in the deal.
The wider team included Arani Chakrabarty, Soraya Salem and Noémie Lisbonis Boyer, managing associates, Hennie Lui, associate (Energy and Infrastructure, Paris), Noor Ashraf, managing associate (Energy and Infrastructure, London), Benedetta Marino, managing associate, and Chiara Buschicchio (Energy and Infrastructure, Milan), Maximilian Reiner, associate (Banking, Frankfurt), as well as Hugo Moreira (Tax, Paris), Aubry Lémeret, Delphine Monnier and Raphaël Ben Chemhoun (Corporate M&A, Paris), Anne Cognet (Employment Paris), Sandra Hoballah Campus (Public Law, Paris), Alessandro Gemmo (Public Law, Milan) and Sebastian Meyen (Public Law, Berlin).
Fernando Abbondanza, ACC group general counsel, was in charge of the project, assisted by Clémence Sonneville, chief legal counsel.
Linklaters is a leading firm in the energy transition sector, including in the area of gigafactories. This project is the first cross-border debt financing transaction of EV battery gigafactories. It builds on the prior successes of the Northtvolt AB and Envision AESC Douai gigafactories financings, to which Linklaters contributed in various capacities, and paves the way for several others across Europe in which Linklaters is also involved.
