Three Crédit Agricole CIB’s transactions rewarded as “GTR Best Deals 2023”

In mid-April, Global Trade Review (GTR) named three of our cross-border transactions as “GTR Best Deals 2023” – a Reverse Forfaiting Programme for Renault-eGT, the electric vehicle (EV) battery production facility of SK On Hungary and Euler Hermes covered financing of Green Line Railway in Egypt.

Crédit Agricole CIB also won the "Best Trade Finance Bank in Western Europe 2023” award at the GTR Leaders in Trade 2023 Awards, during a ceremony hold in London on May 3rd.

Congratulations to the teams! 

In December 2022, Crédit Agricole CIB successfully arranged a 60-day CNY 1.6 billion reverse forfaiting programme for Renault-eGT. This transaction marks the first cross-border RMB-denominated green supply chain financing solution in the market, and the first green reverse forfaiting programme from Crédit Agricole CIB in Asia-Pacific. This successful programme will support the significant underlying export volume of 7,000 electronic vehicles from China to major European automobile distribution groups each month.

This transaction consists of 3 Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) backed facilities – USD 700 million by K-Sure, USD 200 million KEXIM and USD 800 million Hermes along with the USD 300 million direct facility from KEXIM. Crédit Agricole CIB acted as Initial Lender, Mandated Lead Arranger (MLA) across the 3 ECAs backed facilities, as Global Facility Agent and Hermes Facility Agent with USD 200 million allocation along with 6 other commercial banks.

This deal bankrolls the expansion of SK On’s electric vehicle battery production capacity in Europe, to meet the increasing demand for EV batteries globally. The soaring demand stems from global auto OEM’s adherence to the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) phase-out plans and accelerating transition towards electrified transport.

Chang Yong Park, Senior Banker for the SK Group:

“It is a landmark transaction with SK On in terms of size as well as complexity. We are pleased and proud to participate in this remarkable transaction, which is one of SK Group’s key ESG initiatives, as MLA as well as global agent bank. This transaction has reinforced our relationship with SK On.”

Crédit Agricole CIB acted as Joint Coordinator, Sole Documentation Bank, Joint Bookrunner, Initial Mandated Lead Arranger, Joint Green Loan Structuring Bank and Joint Green Loan Coordinator on this EUR 1.99 billion financing covered by Euler Hermes, the German Export Credit Agency. This financing supports the largest contract in Siemens’ history for Egypt’s High Speed Railway Network project, of which the Green Line is the first phase, and contributes to the strategic investment by Egypt to modernize its railway network.