Crédit Agricole CIB recognised by Project Finance International at the 2023 Award ceremony!
Project Finance International, the leading magazine for project and infrastructure finance, presented nine awards to the Bank, including 'Digital Deal of the Year' globally, 'Deal of the Year', 'Power Deal of the Year', 'Sustainability Deal of the Year' and 'Digital Deal of the Year' in Europe, 'Offshore Deal of the Year' in Asia Pacific and 'Petchem Deal of the Year' in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, as well as 'Digital Deal of the Year' in the Americas!
"Once again, these awards demonstrate our work in project and infrastructure finance and highlight our commitment to support clients towards their sustainability goals. Our team’s extensive sectorial expertise is key to achieve the energy transition and offer the best financial solutions to our clients."
Jean-François Grandchamps
Global Head of Energy & Infrastructure Group
“Crédit Agricole CIB’s dominant position in Project Finance is the result of a collaborative set up that brings together expertise from origination, distribution and advisory. The PF distribution team is involved in underwriting, advisory and secondary selldown, maximizing the Bank’s engagement with the investor base and fostering strong relationships.”
Koo Cho
Head of Project Finance Distribution, DAR
“We are immensely proud to have achieved these prestigious awards in the digital space at a global level and across our geographies. This is crowning a great digital infrastructure year for the bank, reflecting our expertise and the robust collaboration across geographies and the business lines. Congratulations to everyone involved, including our clients on this remarkable achievements”
Thibault Rosset
Global Head Telecom Sector and TMT Finance – Corporate and Leveraged Finance
DealsGlobal
Digital Deal of the Year: EdgeConneX
Virginia-headquarted data centre provider EdgeConnex completed a €2.645bn sustainability-linked refinancing and upsizing of its European DCs. Crédit Agricole CIB acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Cornestone Investor.
DealsEurope
Deal of the Year: Baltic Power
Baltic Power is a 1.14 GW greenfield offshore wind farm located approximately 22 km off the northern coast of Poland. The project is owned by the Orlen Group (fka PKN Orlen) and Northland Power. Once completed, Baltic Power will be the first offshore wind farm built in Poland and one of the largest in the world, providing clean energy to more than 1.5 million households and making a significant contribution to Poland's target of 11 GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2040.
The project is expected to be operational in 2026 and will benefit from a 25-year Euro-pegged and inflation-indexed Contract for Difference off-take agreement with the Polish government. Crédit Agricole CIB acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, Technical Bank, Contingent Pre-Hedge and Hedge Provider in the financing of the Baltic Power offshore wind farm.
Digital Deal of the Year: GD Towers
Brookfield and DigitalBridge have acquired a 51% stake in Deutsche Telekom's German and Austrian tower business, GD Towers, underpinned by a €6.85 billion debt package. GD Towers is Germany's largest tower company, owning and operating more than 33,000 towers and communication sites in Germany and more than 7,000 in Austria. Crédit Agricole CIB acted as underwriter and bookrunner for this EUR 6.85 billion debt financing package.
Power Deal of the Year: Moray West
Moray West is an 882MW greenfield offshore wind farm located approximately 23km off the north-east coast of Scotland. The project is owned by Ocean Winds and Ignitis. Once completed, Moray West is expected to provide a reliable and sustainable source of low cost, low carbon electricity for up to 1.33 million homes per year, making a significant contribution to the UK's net zero energy strategy by 2050.
In addition to being sole debt financial advisor and sole hedge advisor, Crédit Agricole CIB also acted as mandated lead arranger, LC issuing bank and hedge provider.
Sustainability Deal of the Year: H2 Green Steel
Swedish low carbon steel producer H2 Green Steel has raised over EUR 5 billion in equity and debt financing for the construction and operation of Europe's first fully integrated green steel plant in Boden, northern Sweden. The first phase of the H2GS project is expected to produce 2.5 million tonnes of steel per year from 2026.
The steel plant will be powered by hydrogen produced from 690 MW of electrolysers using renewable energy, giving the project very strong ESG features in line with EU decarbonisation efforts. For example, H2GS will reduce CO2 emissions by 95% compared to traditional steelmaking.
The Bank was selected as Mandated Lead Arranger for this transaction. This transaction is a great illustration of Crédit Agricole's ambitions and commitments to strengthen and accelerate its climate strategy and support energy transition projects.
DealsAmericas
Digital Deal of the Year: Gigapower
Gigapower, a newly formed joint venture FiberCo between AT&T & BlackRock, which will build and operate a wholesale, open access network in a select number of attractive geographies, bringing superfast broadband internet to up to 1.5 million homes outside of AT&T's current footprint.
Crédit Agricole CIB acted as arranger for the $1.655 billion debt package to finance Gigapower's fibre-to-the-home ("FTTH") deployment, the first large-scale US fibreco transaction.
DealsAsia Pacific
Offshore Wind Deal of the Year: Hai Long
Hai Long is a 1,022 megawatt offshore wind project located 50-70 kilometres off the west coast of Taiwan. It is strategic to Taiwan's energy transition, which includes a plan to achieve 40-55 gigawatts of installed offshore wind capacity by 2050 as part of its net-zero carbon emissions target.
When it reaches commercial operation in late 2026, Hai Long is expected to power more than one million Taiwanese homes and create more than 5,000 jobs over its lifetime. Hai Long is the largest offshore wind project to date in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region that Crédit Agricole CIB has extensively supported as a one-stop-shop financier.
Crédit Agricole CIB acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, Bookrunner, FX Pre Hedge Bank, Deal Contingent and Interest Rate Swap Hedge Provider, InterCreditor and Commercial Facility Agent for the financing.
Petchem Deal of the Year: Balikpapan
In 2022, Pertamina (Indonesia's 100% state-owned, fully integrated national oil company) launched a plan to expand and modernise its refining facilities in Indonesia to increase its competitiveness by improving crude processing flexibility, product quantity and quality, and operational efficiency.
By expanding the existing Balikpapan structure by October 2025, the refinery's capacity will increase from 260,000 to 360,000 barrels per day to produce lighter, higher-value products for the domestic market. Once completed, the Balikpapan Expansion Project will be more environmentally friendly with reduced emissions.
Crédit Agricole CIB was selected as Mandated Lead Arranger among 22 banks and 3 ECAs and is acting as one of the main hedging banks for the project. It is the largest financing transaction in Indonesia in recent years.
DealsMiddle East
Petchem Deal of the Year: Ras Laffan
Ras Laffan Petrochemicals is a joint venture, 70% owned by QatarEnergy and 30% by Chevron Phillips, established to develop a greenfield petrochemical complex at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, expected to be operational in Q4 2026.
This project represents QatarEnergy's largest investment in petrochemicals in Qatar and includes two polyethylene trains with a combined capacity of 1.7 million tonnes per year of high density polyethylene polymer products (used in the production of durable goods such as pipes for natural gas and water distribution).
Congratulations to the teams involved in these various projects and many thanks to our clients for their trust!
By working closely with our clients around the world, Crédit Agricole CIB has once again distinguished itself as a leading bank in project and infrastructure financing and continues its commitment to the energy transition.