€879m (~A$1.45bn) conditional debt commitment letter signed for Phase One Lionheart Project
Vulcan Energy (Vulcan, ASX: VUL, FSE: VUL, the Company) is pleased to announce the signing of a €879m conditional debt commitment letter with Export Finance Australia and a group of seven commercial banks for the financing of Vulcan’s Phase One Lionheart Project (the Project).
Key financing highlights Vulcan achieves significant step towards the financing of the Project, with €879m of conditional commitments received from Export Finance Australia (EFA) and seven commercial banks
EFA and the commercial banks have executed a conditional commitment letter, together with a credit pre-approved term sheet setting out the key terms and conditions of the proposed debt financing
This conditional commitment follows the additional approval received from the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Board to participate in the Project financing, as announced on 12 December 20241
Vulcan is seeking additional approvals from Export Development Canada (EDC), Bpifrance AE (Bpifrance) and SACE to participate in the Project financing, to reach a target total debt package of approximately €1.5bn – €1.6bn (Total Debt Requirement). It is customary for government-backed Export Credit Agencies (ECA) to seek approval at the time of signing final finance documentation which is expected in the first half of 2025
The continued and strong involvement of the EIB, ECAs and commercial banks highlights the importance of Vulcan’s Project both to Europe’s critical raw materials supply chain resilience for electric vehicles (EVs), and to the European energy transition. Debt funding details
EFA and the commercial lending group comprised of seven banks have executed a conditional debt commitment letter, along with a credit approved financing term sheet, for the proposed debt financing for the Project of approximately €1.5bn – €1.6bn. The conditional commitment letter confirms the participation of EFA for €120m through direct lending (refer to Vulcan’s ASX announcement on 9 December 2024), as well as the participation of seven commercial banks. These commitments are intended to be complemented by additional commitments from the EIB (refer to Vulcan’s ASX announcement on 12 December 2024) and the following ECAs from whom the Company has received indications of strong support to date: Bpifrance (untied debt guarantee), EDC (direct lending), and SACE (tied debt guarantee). Additional commercial banks are expected to join the pool of banks in the first half of 2025.
The commercial bank group consists of (i) the four Structuring Banks (ABN AMRO, ING, Natixis CIB and UniCredit), which have been engaged in the financing structuring process, alongside the EIB and ECAs (Bpifrance AE, EDC, EFA, and SACE), since May 2024, as well as (ii) three additional international project finance banks which joined the financing process since early October. The key proposed terms of the debt facilities, as set out in the conditional commitment letter and term sheet, are set out in Schedule 1. All debt facilities and credit approvals remain conditional at this stage, including completion of due diligence, final credit committees and boards approvals, execution of the full form legal documentation, and other conditions precedent(including those set out in Schedule 1). The terms of the commitment letter and the debt facilities are conditional on approval by SACE and Bpifrance as cover providers in respect of their applicable covered facilities and approval by EDC of its entry into its applicable facility. Conditional commitments under the commitment letter are not equal to the Total Debt Requirement, and such commitments are further conditional on Vulcan obtaining commitments from further financial institutions to meet the Total Debt Requirement.
Project funding requirements
According to Vulcan’s models and estimates, the total funding required for the Project (including financing costs, owners’ costs, debt service reserve account (DSRA), ramp up and contingencies) is expected to amount to approximately €2.2bn including capital expenditure of approximately €1.4bn. Total funding requirements include financing costs of approximately €270m, additional contingency and standby facilities required by financiers of approximately €241m, owners’ costs of approximately €180m and DSRA and ramp up costs of approximately €103m. Vulcan intends to fund the Project through a combination of debt financing at the Project level as well as equity financing at the Project and Company level. Refer to the Company’s announcements released to ASX on 11 December 2024 (including slide 8 of the investor presentation) for further details regarding the envisaged financing arrangements for the Project. The conditional debt commitments announced today represent a significant step in the Company obtaining the envisaged debt financing. As part of the due diligence process undertaken by the Lenders, the Lenders’ Technical Advisor (LTA) RPMGlobal reviewed and recommended certain immaterial adjustments to the Base Case financial model, to reach a robust business case including conservative production and cost assumptions. The LTA recommended the inclusion of an additional contingency in the Capex, as well as the Standby Budget, which is funded by debt and equity according to the 60:40 gearing ratio (unspent in the Base Case). These recommendations from the LTA are reflected in the End of Validation (EOV) project economics described in the Company’s announcements on 11 December 2024 and in the estimated funding requirements described above.
Vulcan’s Group Chief Financial Officer, Felicity Gooding, commented: “The debt commitment letter is a significant step in our financing of the Project, and we will continue to progress discussions over the coming period. The strong level of support shown by the EIB, ECAs and commercial banks underscores the integrity of the Project and its standing as Europe’s leading integrated lithium and renewable energy project. We look forward to maintaining our momentum into next year as we aim to finalise the financing package and will be keeping our shareholders informed accordingly.”
BNP Paribas is acting as debt advisor and White & Case as legal advisor to Vulcan.
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Annabel Roedhammer | Vice President Communications | aroedhammer@v-er.eu | +49 1511 410 1585
Judith Buchan | Communications Lead – APAC | jbuchan@v-er.eu | +61 411 597 326