UK-based EV infrastructure developer Zenobe’s has closed a fresh debt facility arranged by 2 institutional investors and 6 commercial lenders to support its expansion, IJGlobal can exclusively reveal.

The £241 million ($326m) debt package is ear-marked for the acceleration of Zenobe’s EV bus fleet expansion in the UK and Ireland.

The financing was arranged across 2 tranches:

• £116 million – long-term institutional debt tranche with a 15-year tenor
• £125 million – short-term commercial bank debt tranche with a 5-year tenor

Institutional investor tranche was arranged by:

• Aviva
• Scottish Widows

Commercial bank revolving credit facility was arranged by:

• Lloyds
• MUFG
• NatWest
• Santander
• Siemens Bank
• Societe Generale

The financing will enable Zenobē to service and finance up to 430 new e-buses.

Zenobē founder Nicholas Beatty said: “This is an incredibly exciting step for both Zenobē and the transport sector as a whole. This innovative funding structure marks the coming of age of structured finance solutions for fleet electrification, and signifies substantial growth for our business, allowing us to accelerate the roll-out of electric buses across the UK.”

This is the second debt structure arranged for the company bringing Zenobē’s total debt close to £400 million.

M&G's infrastructure equity arm Infracapital, in 2020, invested £150 million in the company.

Founded in 2017 Zenobē is an EV fleet and battery storage specialist with 175MW in operational and contracted storage assets, 394 e-buses and an estimated 25% of the UK operational e-bus market.

Advisers to Zenobē:

• NatWest – debt adviser
• Allen & Overy – legal

Adviser to lenders:

• Clifford Chance – legal