Automotive Cells Company (ACC), the European high performance lithium-ion battery cell manufacturer, announced it has raised €4.4 billion ($4.7 billion) in debt financing. It is aimed at supporting the construction of three gigafactories in France, Germany and Italy.
The company, owned by Stellantis (45%), Saft/TotalEnergies (25%) and Mercedes-Benz (30%), inaugurated its first gigafactory in France in 2023. It is producing batteries for Stellantis.
It plans a series of developments to meet demand, including constructing a second block on the French site, in addition to plants in Germany and Italy. ACC has set a goal to reach at least 120GWh of cell capacity by 2030.
The debt package, one of the biggest in the European battery industry history, was underwritten by a consortium of commercial banks including BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, and supported by Bpifrance, Euler Hermes, and SACE.
“With this world-class financial community supporting us, we see clear evidence of the confidence that is placed in the ACC project. We are resolutely looking to the future, with a view to achieving our objective of growing our production capacities,” said Yann Vincent, CEO of ACC.
BNP Paribas acted as exclusive financial adviser to ACC. Séverine Mateo, head of the Low Carbon Transition Group, said: “ACC and BNP Paribas share the same ambition, which is to accelerate the transition to a different and more sustainable mobility.”
ACC employs more than 1,500 people at its first gigafactory and at the R&D centre, operational since 2020 in Bruges, near Bordeaux, and a state-of-the-art industrial excellence centre in Nersac, in the New Aquitaine region.
