French green hydrogen producer Lhyfe has raised at least €110mn ($118mn) via an initial public offering (IPO) and listing on the Euronext stock exchange, with Portuguese energy group EDPR among the anchor investors.

Lhyfe’s listing, which also drew investors from France and Norway, was the first by a company in Europe since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and marks the reopening of the European IPO market, says French investment bank Natixis, which was the joint coordinator and bookrunner on the transaction.

“This remarkable success is the result of intensive preparation, a key condition to reopen the IPO market in the current environment, marked by the crisis in Ukraine and higher risk aversion,” says Laurent Danino, executive director for strategic equity capital markets at Natixis.

€400mn – Potential market capitalisation of Lhyfe

“The decision to move forward with the IPO despite a peak in volatility over the past 18 months was permitted by the secured structure at launch, with both industrial and financial cornerstone investors, and of course the quality of Lhyfe’s track record, which appealed to investors right from the first meetings.”

The exercise of options allowing some investors to take additional shares could increase the IPO proceeds to €124mn, and the company could have a market capitalisation in excess of €400mn, says French investment bank Bryan Garnier, joint coordinator and bookrunner on the deal with Natixis.

European portfolio

Nantes-based Lhyfe specialises in deploying electrolysers coupled directly with renewable generation such as offshore wind. It has a portfolio of 93 identified projects in Europe that will potentially deliver production capacity of 4.8GW by 2028, capable of producing more than 1,620t/d of green hydrogen.

Of these 93 projects, 20 are at an advanced development stage and are expected to see the startup of 380.5MW between 2023 and 2026, Lhyfe says.

Following the IPO, Lhyfe entered into an agreement with EDPR to identify, develop and operate green hydrogen production projects. Under the agreement, EDPR—the world’s fourth-largest wind energy generator—will supply renewable power to Lhyfe’s hydrogen projects.

In April, Lhyfe signed a memorandum of understanding to design, build and operate a green hydrogen production site in Sweden with an installed capacity of 600MW that would be directly connected to an offshore windfarm to be built by German developer WPD in the North Sea off the coast of Soderhamn.

Last year, Lhyfe launched what it says is the world’s first industrial site with a direct link to a windfarm and seawater supplies for electrolysis. The facility, located in Bouin in western France, has a production capacity of 750kW, or around 300kg/d of green hydrogen. This is expected to increase to 2.5MW by 2023, producing about 1t/d.

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Author: Stuart Penson