Bird & Bird advises Hy24 and Mirova on their record €200 million investment in green hydrogen pioneer Hy2gen AG in partnership with CDPQ and Technip Energies

The capital will be used for the construction of facilities in several jurisdictions across Europe, producing green hydrogen-based fuels – or “e-fuels” – for maritime and ground transport, aviation and industrial applications. The investment, which is the largest private green hydrogen-focused capital raise to date, is led by Hy24 together with Mirova, CDPQ (advised by Jones Day) and strategic investor, Technip Energies (advised by Clifford Chance). Hy2gen was advised by Baker Tilly.

Financial Investment Advisors were Nomura Greentech (Hy2gen AG) and Société Générale Investment Banking (Hy24).

The Bird & Bird team was led by Paris-based partner Sibylle Weiler (Finance & Energy, Head of Hydrogen Group), Counsel Olivier Fazio (Due Diligence) and partner Xavier Leroux (Corporate), all Paris. The German team involved partner Dr. Hans Peter Leube, partner Dr. Marc Seeger, Counsel Dr. Christina Lorenz (Munich), associate Felix Spindler (Düsseldorf), all Corporate. German Due Diligence aspects were led by associate Jan Medele and associate Anja Holtermann, under supervision of partner Dr. Matthias Lang. In addition, the Paris team led by Counsel Olivier Fazio organised a multijurisdictional Legal Due Diligence assessment on projects situated in France, Germany, Norway (Advokatfirmaet CLP, Amund Erdal, Partner) and Canada (BLG, Law firm, Johnathan Cocker, Partner).

Pierre-Etienne Franc, CEO of Hy24 said: “The magic combination for success in Hydrogen scale up is sizable projects in strategic basins, strong stakeholder support from off-take to project financing and execution, and the leadership of expert teams for development and steering. This is what Hy2gen has successfully gathered around the table. This first investment made by our Clean H2 Fund allows Hy24 to step into its role as a catalyst for hydrogen-based projects at scale to foster the energy transition.”

Raphaël Lance, Head of Mirova’s Energy Transition Infrastructure Funds adds: “Mirova is committed to financing sustainable solutions for the energy transition. We are convinced that green hydrogen has a key role to play in the decarbonisation of the industry and are proud to partner with Hy2gen and support their ambition to become a key player in the deployment of this energy of the future.”

Sibylle Weiler, lead partner at Bird & Bird comments: “We are delighted to be involved in such an innovative and significant transaction for the future of green hydrogen in Europe. Working with Hy24 and Mirova on this investment is a real opportunity to move the needle in how the energy industry looks towards greener solutions. For Bird & Bird it was a great opportunity to combine our private equity expertise with our Hydrogen sector knowledge in a cross border transaction.”

Background information

Hy24, the world’s largest clean hydrogen infrastructure platform, is a joint venture between Ardian, a world-leading private investment firm, and FiveT Hydrogen, an investment manager specialising purely in clean hydrogen investments. The Clean H2 Infra Fund managed by Hy24 has raise in excess of €1 billion, will unlock strategic and large-scale projects under development to accelerate the scaling up of hydrogen markets.

Mirova is a management company dedicated to sustainable investment and an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers. Mirova's goal is to combine long-term value creation and sustainable development. Mirova and its affiliates manage €28.6 billion.