French container line CMA CGM has been revealed as a new investor in the world’s biggest pure-play hydrogen infrastructure fund.
The Hy24 fund was set up last year in France by clean hydrogen investor FiveT Hydrogen and private investment house Ardian.
The operation has now raised €2bn ($1.94bn) for its hydrogen impact fund, Clean H2 Infra. This exceeded initial expectations, the company said.
Cash will be aimed at scaling proven hydrogen technologies for mature infrastructure assets.
Hy24 wants to play a major role in decarbonising the global economy, it said.
The plan over the next six years is to mobilise up to €20bn of investment capacity, drawing on the know-how of its major strategic investors.
The portfolio will be diversified across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Founding anchor investors included TotalEnergies and Baker Hughes.
Another 50 partners were then brought in from 13 countries, including EDF, Itochu, Snam, Enagas, Allianz and Credit Agricole.
The latest recruit, CMA CGM, is described as a “new key industrial investor”.
Pierre-Etienne Franc, co-founder and chief executive 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.”
Cash deployed
Money is already being spent.
The fund has participated in the €110m fundraising of H2 Mobility, a German operator of one of Europe’s largest network of hydrogen stations.
It has also taken part in the €200m financing round of Hy2Gen, an operator of production sites for decarbonised hydrogen.
In addition, Hy24 has bought a 30% stake in Enagas Renovable, a leading developer of renewable hydrogen projects in Spain.
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,” he said.
