Financing of SSAB’s new steel mill in Sweden, aiming at reducing CO2 emissions from the operations

Crédit Agricole CIB has been acting as the Global Coordinator, Structuring Bank, and Green Loan Coordinator in a financing package for SSAB and its transformation project to a state-of-the-art fossil-free mill in Luleå, Sweden. 

The project is key to enable SSAB to re-position SSAB Europe as a maker of premium products, to lower production costs. It will helps reduce CO2 emissions from the operations and therefore Sweden’s emissions by 7%.

The financing is structured by Crédit Agricole CIB and backed by the Swedish National Debt Office (Riksgälden) and the Italian Export Credit Agency (SACE), as well as the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB).
SSAB decided on the EUR 4.5 billion investment in the new steel mill in Luleå during 2024. Now, SSAB has signed three green loan financing facilities up to EUR 2.3 billion with commitments of financing matching the capex profile of the project. It includes SEK 15 billion loan supported by the Swedish National Debt Office’s (“Riksgälden”) under the “Credit guarantees for green investments” program and EUR 808 million loan backed by the Italian Export Credit Agency, SACE. The other loan is provided by NIB.
The loans are structured under the Green Loan Principles, in line with SSAB’s Green and Sustainable Linked Finance Framework. 

The new mill will have a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes a year with two electric arc furnaces, advanced ladle metallurgy and an integrated rolling mill. The investment also includes a complex for cold rolling, advanced galvanizing, as well as continuous annealing, which is key to re-position SSAB Europe as a maker of premium products. Other advantages include lower costs, shorter lead times, as well as better ability to manage swings in demand. The new steel mill can use a flexible mix of fossil-free sponge iron, pig iron and recycled scrap.
When the new mini-mill is completed, SSAB will close the current blast furnace-based production system, which will largely remove the CO2 emissions from the own operations in Luleå. The reduction corresponds to 7% of Sweden’s current CO2 emissions.

SSAB Press Release available here Will open in a new tab