EUR30 million EIB loan for Carbios’ enzymatic recycling technology
Carbios and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced the signing of a EUR 30 million loan agreement, supported by the European Commission InnovFin Energy Demonstration Programme. The aim of this type of financing is to support high potential innovative projects developed by companies aiming to achieve transformative changes aligned with the EU Climate goals and contribute to the EU industry’s leadership in the development of sustainable technologies. Carbios meets these criteria with its world’s first enzyme-based processes, which have the potential to contribute to the plastic’s industry sustainability.
In this context, and after a thorough analysis of Carbios’ business model and the due-diligence led by the EIB over the past year, this loan has been granted to support the strategic industrial and commercial development of Carbios’ technology of PET1 enzymatic recycling aiming at transforming post-consumer PET plastic and polyester fibres to their original building blocks (monomers) through a biological enzymatic depolymerisation process.
Carbios claims that the EIB loan contract reflects the company’s potential to address the growing concern of plastics pollution through the development of its enzymatic recycling process, a disruptive technology that could accelerate the transition to a plastics Circular Economy. Unlike conventional recycling processes, Carbios’ technology converts PET plastic into its core monomers, which is intended to be used for feedstock as new 100% recycled PET suitable for all original applications. At industrial scale, Carbios proprietary technology would allow PET plastic producers to replace petrochemicals with monomers from PET plastic waste, resulting in 100% recycled PET content in new products.
This EUR 30 million loan, disbursed in one single tranche by the EIB, carries a fixed semi-annual interest of 5%, with a maturity of 8 years. This agreement is supplemented by a warrants’ issuance agreement where Carbios will issue 2.5% of the fully diluted share capital in warrants to the benefit of the EIB, of which 1.25% with an exercise price of EUR 40 per share, and 1.25% with an exercise price of EUR 38.8861 per share, corresponding to the volume-weighted average of the trading price of an ordinary Share of the Company over the last three (3) Trading Days preceding the date which is five (5) days prior to the Signing Date. The creation and issuance of these EIB warrants, and therefore the disbursement of the €30 million loan, are subject to the vote by an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting of Carbios to be held in the first quarter of 2022 of a delegation of authority to the board of directors and to a decision of the board of directors of the Company using such delegation of authority.
