Helrom agrees €34.5 million loan financing with Societe Generale and DAL Deutsche Anlagen-Leasing

The financing will support Helrom GmbH’s continued market expansion and growth and underscores the company’s position as a leader in the sustainable decarbonisation of rail freight supply chains.

Deutsche Leasing Finance (DL) and Societe Generale are providing the loan financing, totalling €34.5 million, on a 50/50 parity basis. This transaction is structured by DAL Deutsche Anlagen-Leasing (DAL). In an overall challenging market environment, Helrom agreed very favourable financing terms with a seven-year amortisation. The term and loan structure comply with the international LMA (Loan Market Association) standard. The transaction is structured as asset-based finance and is conceived as a platform for Helrom’s further financing initiatives.

Both financing partners have extensive experience in the rail sector. Societe Generale has unique expertise in the logistics sector across all of Europe, which strengthens the potential cooperation with Helrom even more. DAL, one of the top asset financiers in the European rail sector, is contributing to the project with innovative financing that meets international standards, demonstrating its commitment and aspirations for sustainable technology and transport initiatives.

The loan financing will provide substantial support for Helrom’s continued expansion of its transport capabilities. This strategic investment will hasten Helrom’s efforts to significantly influence the rail freight modal shift and decarbonise supply chains; this is in line with the company’s stated goal of Net Zero Transport and its ESG principles.

Helrom’s CFO, Matthias Herrmann, highlights the significant achievement of securing two heavyweight partners for the company’s objectives: “We’re delighted to have agreed our first third-party financing deal with two such great financing partners as Societe Generale and DAL. We’re especially proud to have found two partners who are both committed to our ESG mission to decarbonise supply chains and who are willing to finance our Helrom trailer wagons for the upcoming seven trains. We’re grateful for their support and look forward to using this financing to further establish our sustainable transport concept.”

Kaan Y. Ciftci, project manager responsible for the transaction at DAL: “We’re pleased to support Helrom GmbH with its growth strategy and thus make a positive contribution to the decarbonisation of freight traffic. With its Net Zero Transport mission, Helrom is a key customer for DAL when it comes to innovative asset finance solutions in the transport and logistics sector – it is also making an important contribution to the transformation of transport. With this financing, we’re thus underscoring our ambitions to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly rail logistics. We’d like to thank all those involved in the project, especially Helrom and Societe Generale for their professional cooperation. We look forward to this funding partnership and are excited about our joint journey towards a more sustainable future.”

Thomas Losay, Head of Global Land Transportation at Societe Generale said: “We are proud to be part of this landmark transaction and to support Helrom with its ambitious development plan which will contribute to road-to-rail shift and entail substantial CO2 emissions savings. This inaugural financing paves the way to a long-term and valuable partnership with a pioneer in sustainable transport.”