Trader and shipowner Trafigura has made its second investment in hydrogen energy in as many months as it seeks to consolidate its position in the green fuel.
The Swiss company has acquired stock in private US firm OneH2, which provides hydrogen fuel supply and logistics solutions.
Trafigura said OneH2 offers scalable production systems coupled with cost-effective delivered hydrogen fuel for use in transport markets.
The US company is looking to branch out from its forklift and trucking markets.
The investment round was led by Houston-based Buckeye Partners and also involved Sumitomo, Navistar and the Pape Group.
The money will be used to develop full hydrogen infrastructure solutions.
European investment
In December, Trafigura said it was teaming up with a Swiss technology company to develop hydrogen fuel cells.
The trader has invested an initial $62m in H2 Energy Holdings to allow it to move forward with decarbonisation solutions for sea and land.
H2 Energy was set up in 2014 to develop hydrogen fuels from renewable sources.
Trafigura also said it had sold its first Euro bond since 2015.
The €400m ($484m) of new debt matures over five years at 3.875%, down 37.5 basis points from initial pricing talk thanks to strong support from institutional investors and private banks.
About 120 investors bought into the upsized issue, which was oversubscribed by 100%.
The cash will be used for general corporate purposes.
Trafigura chief financial officer Christophe Salmon said: "This transaction marks the return of Trafigura to the Euro bond primary market after a hiatus of six years since our last euro denominated issuance in 2015."
He said one of the company's objectives was to develop access to the euro-focused investor base.
"We’re delighted to see the book diversification and the continued development of our investor base, which demonstrates the growing interest for the commodities trading sector among sophisticated fixed income investors," Salmon said.
Joint bookrunners for the transaction were Credit Suisse, ING, Societe Generale and Unicredit.
