EXCLUSIVE | Hy24 plans to raise half a billion euros for its hydrogen equipment fund
Hy24 has today made its first investment via its new Clean Hydrogen Equipment Fund, for which it plans to ultimately raise at least €500m ($544m), the company tells Hydrogen Insight.
The Paris-based fund manager has taken a €13m convertible bond private placement in Oslo-headquartered Hexagon Purus, joining a consortium of investors including Japanese conglomerate Mitsui in a capital raise worth €88.5m.
“This investment, the first by our Equipment Fund, reinforces Hy24’s position as a strategic investor and a catalyst in fostering the clean hydrogen economy,” said Guillaume Lesueur, Hy24’s managing director for its Clean Hydrogen Equipment Fund, in a press release announcing the placement.
Lesueur, formerly the head of EDF Pulse Ventures, had been hired in June 2023 to manage the new equipment-focused investment initiative, which is separate to Hy24’s €2bn Clean Hydrogen Infrastructure Fund.
The firm predicts that by 2030, the market for hydrogen equipment will be worth $190bn.
Hexagon Purus itself plans to use the capital raised to ramp up capacity at five newly-opened facilities — two in Germany, one in Canada, one in China and one in the US — with an eye toward opening a second US site in Dallas this year.
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The equipment company manufactures high-pressure storage cylinders, which can be integrated into fuel-cell electric vehicles or transported via trailers for mobile H2 supply.
In the summer, Danish hydrogen producer Everfuel halted its fleet of trailers supplied by Hexagon Purus due to a faulty valve that had been fitted by an unnamed third party.
Hydrogen Insight has reached out to Hexagon Purus to confirm whether this third-party supplier has fixed the issue that originally led to the valve fault, or if it has switched suppliers.
However, in November, Hexagon Purus reported an all-time high quarterly revenue of NKr380m ($36m), with a NKr1.1bn ($106m) backlog of firm orders — although it warned that the full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) would not only be negative, but a 10% greater loss than in 2022.
