News and Deals
Press Contact
Coralie Tsatsanis
Corporate Affairs & Communications Manager
+33156435605
coralie.tsatsanis@linklaters.com
Linklaters has advised a group of seven commercial banks on a US$830 million limited recourse financing for the installation, operation and maintenance of NVIDIA Grace Blackwell infrastructure, comprising 13,800 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs, at Mistral AI's data centre near Paris, in Bruyères-le-Châtel, France. The transaction represents the first limited recourse financing of GPU infrastructure in Europe.
The lending consortium comprised seven leading financial institutions: Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC, La Banque Postale, MUFG and Natixis.
The facility will power the training of Mistral AI's own AI models as well as those of its customers, while delivering high performance inference services. Set to become operational in Q2 2026, the transaction brings Mistral AI’s powered capacity to 44 MW and supports its broader ambition to secure 200 MW of capacity across Europe by the end of 2027, all powered by decarbonised energy.
A landmark for European digital infrastructure finance
This transaction marks a significant milestone for the European project finance market. Cutting edge GPU chips are central to the development and training of AI models, capabilities that have become essential in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment. As AI sovereignty rises to the top of the political and corporate agenda, securing access to domestically owned and operated GPU capacity has become a strategic imperative for European governments and corporates alike.
The transaction demonstrates that advanced GPU infrastructure can be financed on a limited recourse basis, paving the way for a new asset class in the European project finance market. The bespoke financing required careful risk analysis and innovative structuring, reflecting both the complexity and the pioneering nature of the transaction.
The Linklaters team
The Linklaters team was led by Paris-based Energy & Infrastructure Partner Samuel Bordeleau, with the support of Mylinh Pham, Managing Associate. The team also included Farah Guedouar, Sinthia Monirul, Henry Joscelyne, Associates, Marija Goranovic, Junior Associate, alongside Rhian Roberts, Counsel, Harriet Herbert, Associate and Georgina Fulford, Legal Advisor on OTC derivative aspects. Tax advice was provided by Leïla Megdoud, Counsel and Hugo Moreira, Associate.
The team led on all financing and due diligence aspects of the transaction.
Samuel Bordeleau commented:
"We are absolutely delighted to have contributed to the first financing of this kind in Europe. With AI sovereignty becoming front of mind for governments and corporates, the ability to finance GPU infrastructure on a limited recourse basis is a game changer. It unlocks a new and scalable funding model for the infrastructure that Europe urgently needs to develop its own AI capabilities, and we are proud to have pioneered it in support of Mistral AI. “