French green hydrogen producer Lhyfe successfully listed its shares on the Euronext stock market on May 20th, 2022, marking the first IPO in Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine. How did the company manage this in the highly volatile market environment, and how did it manage to attract so much investor interest?
Lhyfe is a Nantes-based green hydrogen producer, operating in a sector poised to play a crucial role in achieving net zero goals by 2050. The company produces renewable hydrogen via water electrolysis and supplies it by directly connecting its production sites to renewable energy sources, with a view to decarbonizing both mobility and industry. Lhyfe aims to become Europe’s leading independent green hydrogen producer.
Lhyfe’s strength lies in its infrastructure and pipeline, with an extensive portfolio of 93 projects already identified. It is the only hydrogen company in the French Tech Green 20, a state-sponsored program by “La French Tech”, an initiative promoting the emergence of new tech champions supporting the ecological transition.
“Green hydrogen is recognized as one of the key drivers for decarbonizing our economies. Production costs are becoming increasingly competitive, making it more attractive for investors” explains Antoine Trieux, Managing Director, Head of New Energies, Natixis CIB. “This IPO asserts Lhyfe’s position as a leading independent company in developing green hydrogen projects in Europe. Its innovative business has attracted a great deal of interest on the market.”
After several rounds of fund-raising since 2020, Lhyfe raised 110 million euros via its IPO. The company selected Natixis CIB’s Strategic Equity Capital Markets (SECM) team with its partner ODDO BHF to support it as global coordinator and joint bookrunner for the transaction, which marks a milestone in its development.
“This remarkable success is the result of intensive preparation, a key condition to reopen the IPO market in the current environment, marked by the crisis in Ukraine and higher risk aversion” explains Laurent Danino, Executive Director, Strategic Equity Capital Markets at Natixis CIB. “The decision to move forward with the IPO despite a peak in volatility over the past 18 months was permitted by the secured structure at launch (with both industrial and financial cornerstone investors) and of course the quality of Lhyfe’s track record, which appealed to investors right from the first meetings. Following on from HDF Energy and Haffner Energy, this is the third Hydrogen IPO managed by our teams in less than one year.”
“This threefold success testifies to the strong foundations of Natixis’ sector-based approach, offering growth companies in the energy transition business dual expertise, combining equity and new energies” adds Sybille Grandgeorge, Executive Director, Power and Renewables at Natixis CIB.
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