InvestEU: Rivage Investment and the European Investment Fund backed by InvestEU announce a new impact debt fund

The EIF, backed by InvestEU, is delighted to announce its EUR 30m support as a cornerstone investor at first closing to the European Climate Debt Solutions Fund (“EUCLIDES”) managed by Rivage Investment.

EUCLIDES will be launched in H1 2023 as an innovative impact investment fund contributing to the fight against climate change and optimally serving a market in need of massive deployment of technologies with positive impact. The EIF, backed by the InvestEU programme, is supporting EUCLIDES as a cornerstone investor. This impact fund will mainly provide growth debt to SMEs specializing in innovative climate solutions across Europe. The financed cleantech companies will contribute to the reduction of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions by providing, amongst others, physical and/or digital solutions, developing clean transportation of people and goods, clean energy solutions, innovative process or disruptive technologies with low environmental impact. In addition, the Fund is expected to comply with the InvestEU Gender Criteria, as at least 40% of its investment committee will be composed of female members.  

The Fund will provide tailor-made debt instruments generally associated with return enhancers such as warrants in order to share the additional value provided by the financing and increase the return of the fund. Borrowers targeted by the fund are European innovative companies in climate tech with meaningful track-record and revenues, in high growth and strong demand context, looking for additional flexible financings to accelerate their development. For investors, EUCLIDES will offer regular returns and risk diversification through a portfolio of circa 40 SME financings, exposure to robust market drivers, geographical diversification, participation to up-side potential.

EUCLIDES is classified as an Article 9 fund under the SFDR with a strong alignment to EU taxonomy. In addition, 100% of financings will demonstrate strong decarbonization claims, illustrated by positive avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at end-user level measured through a thorough transparent methodology. Avoided emissions will be measured by the difference between annual GHG emissions associated with an investee’s product or service compared to a reference counterfactual scenario

The European Investment Fund has chosen Rivage Investment and EUCLIDES as one of its first senior private debt investment, backed by the InvestEU programme. This commitment and support symbolize the adequacy between the sustainable investment objective pursued by the fund, which aims at financing entities which are actively participating, directly or indirectly, in the fight against global warming, in the energy transition, climate adaptation and climate change mitigation and the major European objectives of transition to a low-carbon economy. This investment contributes to the EU Green Deal and supports a transition to a climate-neutral economy based on sustainable development, a reduction in dependence on fossil fuels and sustainable management of natural resources, among other goals. In addition, the underlying investments will be predominantly aligned to the EIF’s criteria for Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability. Those criteria are in the spirit of the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, adapted to the specific needs of private market and small enterprise and are part of the EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap approved in November 2020.

Rivage Investment targets a first closing at EUR 100m, including the EIF EUR 30m commitment in H1 2023 and a target size of EUCLIDES at EUR 250m.

EIF Chief Executive Marjut Falkstedt says: “We are very pleased to be contributing to the EUCLIDES fund, using resources from the InvestEU programme. The impact agenda of this fund is perfectly in tune with our policy priorities: It will facilitate access to finance for the cleantech companies that are developing solutions to accelerate the green transition of the European economy, and it will do so in a manner adapted to their particular needs. We are convinced that this new impact fund will play a key role in enabling more climate solutions providers to develop all over Europe, thus making a tangible contribution to the European Green Deal.”

Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni adds: “Securing the green transition will require significant and sustained investment. InvestEU can play an important role in mobilizing this investment. This agreement represents another important step in that effort, supporting the contribution of innovative European businesses to our joint climate goals.”

Hervé Besnard, founder and CEO of Rivage Investment comments: “By providing growth debt to European corporate deploying solutions aiming at reducing GHG emissions, EUCLIDES accelerates the deployment of efficient technologies, generating a significant positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. This new fund is a well-suited instrument for investors to be rewarded for their positive impact.”

Background information

About European Investment Fund

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses by helping them to access finance and venture capital. The EIF is also active in supporting climate fund investments and infrastructure with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. In this role, the EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and employment.

About InvestEU

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term financing by mobilizing significant public and private funds to support a sustainable recovery. It helps generate additional investments in line with key European priorities, such as the European Green Deal, the digital transition and support for SMEs. The InvestEU programme brings together a multitude of EU financial tools to support investment by making project financing simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme has three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented via various financial partners. They will invest in projects by using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion to mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investments.

About Rivage Investment

Rivage Investment is an asset manager based in Paris with ca. €8 billion under management. Rivage Investment is a leading actor in the financing of European infrastructures. It finances infrastructure companies, local authorities and assets through different private debt strategies with different risk/return profiles and maturities from long term financing to bridge financing for portfolios of renewable energy projects under development. For the last 10 years Rivage Investment has been providing over 100 financings across various infrastructure sub-sectors and countries in Europe. Rivage Investment’s commitment to Net Zero through funding of corporates offering decarbonisation solutions for existing assets and building infrastructures of tomorrow is at the heart of the company’s strategy.

Press contacts

EIF: Christophe Alix, c.alix @bei.org, Tel.: +352 43 79 84303 / Mobile: +33 6 11 81 30 99
Website: www.eif.org – Press Office: +352 4379 21000 – press@eib.org  - Follow us on Twitter

Rivage Investment: Patrick Raffard, patrick.raffard@rivageinvestment.com, Tel: +33 6 15 02 50 34
Website: www.rivageinvestment.com