Allen & Overy has advised Northvolt on the USD5 billion project financing of its first flagship lithium-ion battery manufacturing and recycling facility in Sweden

The financing, which is the largest green loan raised in Europe to date, will enable Northvolt to expand the low emission cathode production and cell manufacturing facility under development in Skelleftea, and to complete development of an adjacent battery recycling facility, demonstrating Northvolt’s commitment to produce Europe’s greenest batteries.

The expanded facility is intended to supply batteries to leading European car manufacturers including BMW, Scania, Volvo Cars and the Volkswagen Group, and thus the financing is a significant milestone in the build out of European capacity in the battery value chain.

The new debt will refinance USD1.6 billion of debt raised in 2020 and will be provided by 23 commercial lenders, EIB and Nordic Investment Bank. A portion of the debt is supported by guarantees from the Swedish National Debt Office, Euler Hermes, the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) and the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure).

This transaction is another example of A&O’s commitment to supporting sponsors and financiers at the leading edge of energy transition, using its deep cross-sector expertise and excellence in transaction execution to structure and deliver landmark transactions.

Further details on the financing can be found in Northvolt’s press release here.

The A&O team was led by London Partner, Michael Diosi and Counsel, Rachel O’Reilly, supported by Senior Associates, Mark Masson, Megan Chen-Schlote and Natalie Etchells, Associates Jonathan Carmichael and Kyra Chong, alongside other specialists from across the A&O network including Jeff Hendrickson, Carolyn Slauson Ali, Matthew Townsend, Catherine Lang-Anderson, Wolfgang Melzer and Alan Markgraf. The team was also supported by our Advanced Delivery and Solutions team in London and Belfast.