European car battery maker ACC secures 4.4 billion euros for three plants

European car battery maker Automotive Cells Company (ACC), co-owned by Stellantis, Mercedes and TotalEnergies, has completed a major financing round to develop three plants in France, Germany and Italy. The company announced the news today on its website. The project will require a total of seven billion euros (nearly CZK 177 billion), with banks providing the battery maker with 4.4 billion euros (CZK 111 billion).

“The agreement with the banks reflects the very high confidence these lenders have in the ACC project,” the company’s chief executive, Yann Vincent, told Reuters.

French bank BNP Paribas acted as ACC’s lead financial adviser. The battery maker signed financing agreements with a consortium of banks including BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, French public investment bank Bpifrance, insurer Euler Hermes and Italian export credit agency SACE.

The funds will finance the construction of four new ACC production lines: a second in France, the first in the German city of Kaiserslautern and two in the Italian city of Termoli. They will follow the company’s first production unit, which opened last year in northern France and makes lithium-ion batteries.

The financing will supplement public subsidies already provided or pledged, as well as new cash contributions from ACC’s three shareholders, the company said. Automaker Stellantis will own 45 percent of ACC’s shares at the end of March, Mercedes-Benz 30 percent and Saft, part of energy company TotalEnergies, 25 percent.