Verkor, a French battery start-up founded to supply Europe's carmakers, has signed $1.78 billion of green loans for its first gigafactory in Dunkirk. Early reports put the company's total raise at EUR 3.3 billion. The loan is the last piece of a package assembled over three years, and most of what holds it together is public money.
Key takeaways
- Verkor secured about $1.78 billion of green loans on 24 May 2024 from 16 commercial banks and three public lenders to build its lithium-ion cell gigafactory at the Port of Dunkirk in Hauts-de-France, with an initial capacity of 16 GWh a year.
- The European Investment Bank contributes about $433 million of the loan, the 16 commercial banks about $1,040 million, of which $382.18 million is guaranteed by the French government, and Banque des Territoires and the Caisse des Depots group about $303 million.
- Enerdatics records an earlier Verkor package announced in September 2023 across three records: $912.9 million of equity, $644.4 million from the European Investment Bank Group and a $698.1 million French government grant, together about $2.26 billion.
- Of ten European EV and battery manufacturing financings of $300 million or more that Enerdatics records from January 2023 to June 2025, Verkor's loan is the second largest, behind Northvolt's $5 billion, and four of the ten are Verkor's.
- The Dunkirk gigafactory is due to operate in 2025, equip 300,000 electric vehicles a year and create around 1,200 direct jobs, and Verkor aims to lift its capacity to 50 GWh by 2030.
How does the EUR 3.3 billion headline relate to the loan?
It describes the whole raise, of which this loan is the debt portion. Leap records the May 2024 financing at $1.78 billion and records the September 2023 package separately. The headline figure that circulated at the time bundled the two stages together, which is why it differs from the amount on any single Enerdatics record.
The sequence matters because each stage made the next possible.
July 2021. Verkor raises $118 million of equity led by EQT Ventures, with Renault among the backers, to develop its battery business.
November 2022. The European Investment Bank lends $99 million, with Bpifrance also named on the financing.
September 2023. Verkor announces three financings on the same day: about $912.9 million of equity from a consortium including Meridiam, Renault, Macquarie, EQT Ventures and Bpifrance; about $644.4 million from the European Investment Bank Group; and a French government grant of about $698.1 million.
May 2024. The $1.78 billion green loan from 19 lenders closes the construction funding for Dunkirk.
Taken together, the September 2023 package and the May 2024 loan come to about $4.03 billion on Enerdatics' records, or roughly $252 million per GWh of the plant's initial annual capacity.
Who is really carrying the risk in the $1.78 billion loan?
The state, to a greater degree than the headline suggests. A green loan is a loan whose proceeds must go to projects with defined environmental benefits, and Verkor's environmental rating from S&P is "Dark Green". But the more important feature is who stands behind each tranche.
The European Investment Bank lends about $433 million, made up of $292.3 million in direct loans and $140.7 million in intermediated loans. Banque des Territoires and the Caisse des Depots group, both arms of the French public financial system, provide a $140.7 million bridging loan followed by a $162.4 million subordinated loan. A subordinated loan ranks behind other lenders if the borrower fails, so it absorbs losses first. Of the $1,040 million from the 16 commercial banks, $382.18 million carries a French government guarantee.
Add those together and about $1.12 billion of the $1.78 billion, roughly 63 percent, is either lent by public institutions or guaranteed by the state. The commercial banks, a list that runs from ABN AMRO and ING to Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC, Natixis and Societe Generale, carry the remaining unguaranteed exposure of about $658 million.
Why does a first factory need this much public support?
Because a first-of-a-kind plant has no operating record to lend against. Project lenders usually size debt on cash flows they can observe. A start-up building its first gigafactory has a customer base, a technology and a plan, but no years of production data. Public lenders and guarantees fill the gap between what a commercial bank will take on and what the plant costs to build.
The same pattern runs through the other large European battery financings Enerdatics records. Northvolt's $5 billion loan for Northvolt Ett, announced in January 2024, drew in export credit agencies, the Nordic Investment Bank and the European Investment Bank. In the same month, Germany committed about $987 million to Northvolt's Heide plant, an award Enerdatics has examined in how Germany kept the Heide battery plant out of America.
Enerdatics records ten European EV and battery manufacturing financings of $300 million or more announced between January 2023 and June 2025. Two companies account for six of them: Verkor with four and Northvolt with two. Northvolt's $5 billion loan is the largest, Verkor's $1.78 billion the second. The rest are charging networks and EV services, such as Gridserve's $676 million green financing in the UK and Electra's $330 million equity raise for fast charging, plus RCI Banque's $801 million green bond and ABB's $352 million EV services raise. Cell manufacturing, in other words, is concentrated in very few hands, and each of those hands has needed government money to get built.
What does the deal signal for European battery manufacturing?
That the capital stack for a European gigafactory is now a public-private template. Equity from strategic and financial investors comes first, then grants and development bank loans, and only then commercial debt, much of it guaranteed. Verkor followed that order almost exactly between 2021 and 2024.
It also shows what lenders are betting on. Verkor plans to supply low-carbon cells to European carmakers and has Renault among its shareholders. The Dunkirk plant is planned to equip 300,000 electric vehicles a year from 16 GWh, and Verkor aims for 50 GWh by 2030. The financing pays for the plant. It does not yet show that European cell manufacturing can compete without the public layers underneath it, and the next expansion will test that question.
Diadamante, Societe Generale and Macquarie Capital advised on the financing, with Allen & Overy and Linklaters as legal counsel and EIT InnoEnergy facilitating the transaction for Verkor.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Verkor raise for its Dunkirk gigafactory in May 2024? About $1.78 billion of green loans from 19 lenders: the European Investment Bank, 16 commercial banks and Banque des Territoires with the Caisse des Depots group.
Why is Verkor's raise reported as EUR 3.3 billion? The headline figure covers the whole raise. Enerdatics records the May 2024 debt at $1.78 billion and the September 2023 equity, development bank and grant package separately, at about $2.26 billion.
When will the Verkor gigafactory start production? The Dunkirk plant is expected to be operational in 2025 with 16 GWh of annual capacity, rising towards a company target of 50 GWh by 2030.
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