Spanish steelmaker Acerinox secures a sustainable loan of €80mn ($92.2mn) from BBVA to partially fund its VDM Metals acquisition. The bilateral loan is tied to the company’s emission and industrial safety performance.
The investment bank BBVA will revise Acerinox’s finance cost annually according to two indicators; the company direct and indirect emission per ton during steel production and the number of industrial accidents. This is the first sustainable financing deal secured by a Spanish steelmaker, which will convert Acerinox’s bilateral loan of €80mn secured in March to sustainable loan to part finance the VDM acquisition.
VDM Metals acquisition is valued at €532mn and Acerinox paid €310mn for the deal in March after receiving approvals from the European, US and Taiwanese anti-trust authorities. The integration of VDM Metals with Acerinox was scheduled to be completed in Q2, as per the company’s Q1 earnings report. VDM has seven production facilities in Germany and the US.
With the European Union’s focus on green steel, sustainable financing options are vital for European steel producers who need huge investments to replace their aging blast furnace with EAFs, adopt hydrogen-based steel making and other energy-efficient and cost-effective technologies.
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