Ebro, the historic automobile brand now owned by Btech, announced this Wednesday that it has closed the first round of financing, amounting to 16 million euros, to manufacture its pick-up trucks in the former Nissan space in the Free Zone. The round is led by the Andorran bank Anbank, which before the end of the year should contribute another 4 million, up to 20 million euros, according to the agreements reached with Btech shareholders.
The financing has been signed a few months later than initially planned and has been announced just one day before the committee to monitor Nissan's reindustrialization meets. The meeting has been called by the Generalitat and the Ministry of Industry at the request of the unions and due to concerns about the delay in the start-up of new manufacturing and the hiring of 1,400 former Nissan workers. Btech and QEV lead the so-called decarbonization hub, the largest industrial project planned.
Btech has created various companies for each of the businesses it plans to develop in the Free Trade Zone. According to a statement made public this Wednesday, the Andbank round has allowed the entry into the capital of EV Motors, Ebro's parent company, of more than 70 investors, including institutional, qualified and family offices. In the course of 2024, another round of financing will begin that will complete the financing of Ebro's business plan.
“The closing of this financing round is one more example of the attraction that this project represents for investors, but also for institutions that believe in the reindustrialization of Spain in general, and specifically in the reactivation of activity in the old plant of Nissan in the Free Zone,” Pedro Calef, CEO of Ebro, highlighted in a note.
The capital raised so far will be used to finance the engineering of the models that Ebro will manufacture at the Zona Franca plant (a pick-up and a minivan, both 100% electric) and also to the development of the D-Hub.
In parallel, negotiations are underway with Chery to manufacture cars for the Chinese company in the Free Trade Zone. According to the company, negotiations are “very advanced.”
Ebro's financing rounds are a preliminary phase for a future listing on the BME Growth in the short or medium term to continue raising funds for the development of the business plan. The new funds will also allow the aid authorized in the Electric Vehicle Perte to continue to be available (a total of 65 million for the hub). The operation has been advised by Cuatrecasas and Andank España.
For its part, QEV, the other hub leader, has begun trading on the Amsterdam stock exchange valued at more than 220 million euros.
