Hydrogen start-up plans London IPO

Hydrogen energy startup HydrogenOne Capital Growth Plc (HGEN) plans to raise £250mn ($346mn) in an initial public offering in London, it said on July 5, adding that it saw both blue and green hydrogen as investment opportunities.

HGEN said it intended to list on the premium segment of the official list of the Financial Conduct Authority and trade its shares on the London stock exchange's main market. UK chemicals group Ineos said separately it had pledged to buy at least 25mn ordinary shares in HGEN, equivalent to 10% of the £250mn target.

Ineos is already Europe's biggest hydrogen producer with an output of around 400,000 metric tons/year, and it plans to build electrolysers to produce the fuel from water using renewable power. The investment in HGEN would "accelerate and diversify Ineos' existing clean hydrogen strategy," the chemicals firm said, adding it would "mark the beginning of another substantial and long-term partnership, opening new windows into the clean hydrogen world for Ineos."

HGEN noted that its investment advisor Hydrogen One Capital LLP considered the potential for both green hydrogen and blue hydrogen, derived from natural gas, to be "at similar inflection points, with significant growth and positive outlook expected in the hydrogen sector." It added the advisor had identified assets worth $90bn that form "the investible universe," including 36 potential investment opportunities.

HGEN said it was targeting a 10-15% annual net asset value total return on its investments over the medium to long term, with further upside potential. A prospectus for the issue will be published shortly, it said, with Panmure Gordon due to serve as sponsor, financial advisor and joint bookrunner and Kepler Cheuvreux as joint bookrunner.