A team of hydrogen and financial executives have launched a pureplay investment fund focusing on clean industrial-scale hydrogen projects.
The Euro-denominated fund, offered only to qualifying and verified investors, intends to raise €1bn from a combination of financial and industrial investors.
The fund will target upstream and downstream opportunities across the value chain, including green hydrogen production, use and downstream distribution assets to the transport segment and associated fleet development schemes.
The fund’s chief executive is Pierre-Etienne Franc, former vice president of Air Liquide’s hydrogen energy activities and co-secretary of the Hydrogen Council.
The fund has already received combined commitments intentions of €260m from Plug Power, Chart Industries and Baker Hughes.
In addition, Francisco Fernandez, a serial entrepreneur, founder and former CEO of Avaloq, and a shareholder and member of the board of directors of FiveT Capital, is committing €30m, part of a global FiveT Capital contribution to the fund expected to reach up to 5% of the final size.
Franc said: “We firmly believe that clean hydrogen, an energy carrier created from low-carbon sources, will help transform and decarbonise the world’s economy, addressing the global climate emergency and making a positive change to our planet for future generations.
“The fund will serve as a catalyst for both the financing and building of global hydrogen infrastructure projects. We believe it creates the right investment platform to support existing and future hydrogen initiatives.”
The fund is the first stage of FiveT Hydrogen’s broader ambition to establish an investment platform focused on accelerating the hydrogen economy.
Its initial priority is to “develop infrastructure and then extend its investment strategy into hydrogen-related technologies and companies”.
FiveT Hydrogen combines deep investment expertise with unparalleled knowledge of, and access to, the hydrogen market and its ecosystem.
It will finance large projects in the production, storage and distribution of clean hydrogen primarily in OECD countries and those with supportive policies, regulations and financial schemes in place enabling projects to be scaled profitably.
Backed by established alternative asset manager, FiveT Capital Holding, the fund will enable investors to access the emerging hydrogen economy whilst mitigating the risk to their returns through co-investment with strategic players with deep technical skill and project execution capabilities.
The fund’s first closing is expected in the fourth quarter of 2021, with first cash contributed by investors by early 2022 and drawn as required for investment over several years.