Faurecia has priced €1.2bn in sustainability-linked notes they could use to partly finance their acquisition of a majority stake in Hella. The notes, which come due in 2027, are the first issuance from Faurecia’s Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework released last month. The environment, social and governmence (ESG) debt market is soaring as investors and authorities demand for more accountability.
Under the framework, Faurecia are starting to reduce the carbon footprint of their sites and activities through energy and transportation decisions. They are also using more environmentally friendly materials and processes, with the overall goal of becoming climate-neutral on their CO2 emissions by 2030.
Faurecia won a bidding war in mid-August for a 60 per cent stake in Hella, in a deal that valued the lighting company at €6.7bn. Plastic Omnium and Mahle were also reported to have put in bids. The deal, expected to close early next year, is one of the biggest in the European auto parts industry in the past three years. It will create a company with about 150,000 employees and annual sales of about €23bn, forecast by Faurecia to exceed €33bn in 2025.
