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U.S. company to provide $6 billion loan for British nuclear power project
Protesters hold banners outside Hinkley Point power station in Somerset, United Kingdom, in 2011 against EDF Energy's plans to renew the site with two new reactors. The project began in 2017 and has had delays and funding problems File Photo by Ben Birchuk/EPA
June 20 (UPI) -- Apollo, a U.S. asset management group, plans to provide a $6 billion loan to the British nuclear project Hinkley Point C being built by a French multinational electric utility company.
Hinkley's estimated cost has soared from $23.7 billion to almost $60.6 billion and won't be operational until at least 2029, Baha Breaking News reported. Construction began in 2017.
Apollo will provide an investment-grade debt financing package at an interest rate below 7% for the project developer, Electricite de France, sources told CNBC and the Financial Times.
Apollo, which was founded in 1990 by Leonard Black, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan, manages capital for institutional and individual investors. Apollo, headquartered in New York City, had revenue of $26.11 billion in 2024 with a net income of $6.373 billion.
The loan has a maximum maturity of 12 years.
EDF is building two new nuclear reactors at the site in Somerset and will be able to borrow $2 billion each of the three years as part of the package.
The company has had a shortfall since China General Nuclear Power Group, which was supposed to provide a third of the cost of the project, stopped providing further financing in 2023.
CGN was removed by the British government from another project -- Sizewell C -- because of concerns about Chinese influence.
The funding could be used for other British projects by EDF.
Jamshid Ehsani, head of global principal structured finance at Apollo, described the deal as the "largest ever" sterling private credit deal.
"It's going to help finance a critical, low-carbon nuclear project. This is the business Apollo is in today," he said. "Europe is a huge focus for us."
