News and Deals
News and Deals
Linklaters advises the European Investment Bank and the commercial lenders on the financing of the construction of Verkor's first electric battery Gigafactory located in Dunkirk, which will have an initial production capacity of 16 GWh per year and a total amount of 1.3 billion euros. With this new operation, the total amount of financing secured by Verkor for its first Gigafactory, as well as for the Verkor Innovation Centre, amounts to more than 3 billion euros.
The project contributes to the development of the EU-based battery industry. It addresses the transition to electric mobility by meeting the growing demand in Europe for electric vehicle batteries with cells, featuring one of the lowest environmental footprints in the world, thus supporting the competitiveness of the EU automotive industry. Three-quarters of the Gigafactory's production is intended for future premium models of the Renault Group's Alpine range, one of the historic shareholders of the French startup created in 2020.
By facilitating the transition to electric mobility, the project fully contributes to the Climate Action goal. It meets the objectives of the Industrial Plan for the Green Deal proposed by the European Commission.
The project also benefits from strong support from European and French institutions, through grants, a loan from the European Investment Bank, as well as a loan from the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and a guarantee for strategic projects from BPIFrance.
The construction of the Gigafactory is already well underway, and the factory is expected to be operational in the second half of 2025.
The Linklaters team was led from Paris by Bertrand Andriani and Justin C. Faye, partners, and composed of David Leeming and Mylinh Pham, Managing Associates, Mariah Cartsidimas, Olu Atanda, Zehra Sever, and Raphaël Papon, Associates, Jules Andreau and Sinthia Monirul, Junior Associates in the Energy and Infrastructure practice, Cyril Boussion, partner, Thibault Hurbli, Managing Associate in Tax Law, Fanny Mahler, partner, for Public Law aspects, Neel Trivedi, Associate in Capital Markets, Saadoun Alioua and Camille Lapeyre, Managing Associates in Real Estate Law, as well as Raphaël Ben Chemhoun and Aubry Lémeret, Managing Associates for Corporate Law aspects.