Zenobē has clinched a €325 million senior debt package from Crédit Agricole CIB to speed up its European roll-out of up to 1,000 battery-electric buses and trucks, backed by a lender group including KKR and Infracapital, and bolstered by a Barcelona project with Grupo Julià.

Zenobē has clinched a €325 million senior debt package from Crédit Agricole CIB to speed up its European fleet electrification push. The facility will back the roll-out of up to 1,000 additional battery-electric buses and trucks, along with the charging networks that support them. The deal is backed by a syndicate including KKR and Infracapital, underscoring Zenobē’s rapid expansion beyond the UK and into continental Europe. Zenobē already has a solid footprint in the UK, where it accounts for roughly 28% of the electric bus market, and it has signed contracts across Benelux, Finland and Spain as part of its broader Europe-wide strategy. Crédit Agricole CIB’s involvement marks a notable deepening of its financing activity in energy transition and e-mobility, at a moment when Europe is speeding up decarbonisation of public transport and freight fleets. The deal comes as Europe seeks to cut emissions from diesel and petrol vehicles, with city authorities and utilities alike looking for scalable, bankable solutions to accelerate electrification of urban and peri-urban transport. Honestly, you can see this as a pretty clear signal that the region is doubling down on electrified mobility.

The bank said the financing strengthens its position in the energy‑transition space and builds credentials in the rapidly growing e‑mobility sector, with multi‑currency facilities designed to support Zenobē’s operations across EU/EEA markets. Speaking to ESG News, Matthew Norman, Global Head of Infrastructure & Advisory at Crédit Agricole CIB, stated that “Congratulations to all teams involved on closing this landmark electric fleet financing transaction with Zenobē. This deal strengthens the Bank’s position in the energy transition space and builds our credentials in the rapidly growing e-mobility sector.” He added that CA CIB looks forward to leveraging the success for future opportunities. Tom Wellingham, Director for Infrastructure EMEA at Crédit Agricole CIB, described Zenobē as “a leading business in the low carbon mobility space” and said the bank is “delighted to support Zenobē in deploying their unique offering in continental Europe and look forward to building on this relationship for further opportunities globally.” Henry Manson, Director of Infrastructure Coverage at CA CIB, explained that “The new €325m debt facility will fund the expansion of its electric bus fleets-as-a-service offering in Europe, showcasing the Bank’s ability to partner with our infrastructure fund clients, KKR and Infracapital, to drive energy transition across new market thematics.” The cohort of lenders, as highlighted by Crédit Agricole CIB, mirrors a broader industry trend of blending traditional project finance with infrastructure investment to back scalable electrification programs. The bank has previously acted as Mandated Lead Arranger on Zenobē’s UK grid-scale battery storage project, underscoring the depth of its ongoing engagement in the company’s energy transition playbook. And yes, that point about the UK project is still relevant here.

Beyond the headline debt facility, the financing aligns with Zenobē’s European expansion, including a growing roster of blue‑chip lenders and partners that underpin its fleets‑as‑a‑service model. Zenobē’s European push is designed to deliver up to 1,000 battery-electric buses and trucks across EU/EEA markets, supported by charging infrastructure and software to optimise vehicle and energy management. The deal sits within a broader investor narrative: in 2023 KKR announced a roughly $750 million investment to scale Zenobē, with Infracapital joining as a strategic partner, a move aimed at accelerating Zenobē’s growth across the UK, North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and targeting the deployment of several thousand electric vehicles by the mid‑2020s. Industry data shows that such coalitions between private equity, infrastructure lenders and vehicle operators are becoming a standard blueprint for scaling fleet electrification in major urban markets. It’s a pattern that, well, could become common enough to be the new normal in big-city transport decarbonisation.

In a related development, Zenobē’s European expansion extends into Spain, where Grupo Julià has entered an electrification agreement to deploy a Barcelona sightseeing fleet. The Spanish project involves Zenobē financing the coaches and handling the design, build, maintenance and operation of the charging infrastructure and energy-management systems, with turnkey delivery covering substation, solar panels, charging points and software for optimised charging. The Barcelona initiative, Zenobē’s first deployment in Spain, marks a notable milestone in continental Europe’s move toward sustainable urban mobility and demonstrates the company’s ability to integrate fleet financing with end‑to‑end energy infrastructure. The market will be watching how such turnkey, fleet‑as‑a‑service arrangements scale in other major cities across Europe, particularly as operators seek predictable, long‑term operating costs and robust performance guarantees.

As Zenobē continues to broaden its operational footprint, observers point to the potential for similar collaborations to unlock scale in public transport decarbonisation. The mix of debt funding, equity partnerships and strategic international deployments — including Spain and other EU markets — is positioned to accelerate the deployment of thousands of electric buses and trucks in the second half of the decade, while reinforcing the role of specialist fleets and charging networks as integral components of modern, low‑carbon mobility. It’s a smart combination, if you ask me, and it’s not hard to see why other players are taking note.

📌 Reference Map:

  • - Paragraph 1 – [ESG News reference], [KKR press link]
  • - Paragraph 2 – [ESG News reference], [Zenobē press release], [Infracapital news]
  • - Paragraph 3 – [Electrive piece], [Grupo Julià announcement]
  • - Paragraph 4 – [KKR investment press], [Infracapital strategic partnership]

Source: Noah Wire Services