NEOM Green Hydrogen Company Wins Platts Financial Deal of the Year Award; Lazard Acted as Financial Advisor

An innovative and complex carbon-free energy transaction on which Lazard acted as financial advisor was named Deal of the Year – Financial, at the Platts Global Energy Awards, held in New York on December 7.

NEOM Green Hydrogen Company’s (NGHC’s) investment of $8.4 billion in the world's largest carbon-free green hydrogen plant was recognized by S&P Global Commodity Insights as the standout financial transaction in the global energy industry during 2023.

The deal involved NGHC working with 23 local, regional, and international banks and investment firms to invest $8.4 billion in the world’s largest green hydrogen production facility. The plant is being built at Oxagon in Saudi Arabia’s new NEOM region, as an equal joint venture between ACWA Power, Air Products and NEOM.

NGHC’s mega-plant will integrate up to 4GW of solar and wind energy to produce up to 600 tonnes per day of carbon-free hydrogen by the end of 2026, in the form of green ammonia. Lazard acted as NGHC’s financial advisor on the deal.

As part of the transaction, NGHC also entered into an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement with Air Products as the nominated contractor and system integrator for the entire facility.

The non-recourse financing for the project was certified by S&P Global as adhering to green loan principles and was recognized as one of the largest project financings put in place under the green loan framework.

NGHC also secured an exclusive 30-year off-take agreement with Air Products for all the green ammonia produced at the facility, which will unlock the economic potential of renewable energy across the entire value chain.

Lazard Managing Director John Buchanan, Vice Chairman of Investment Banking Richard Whitney and Associate Isabelle Haugh (pictured) attended the awards gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York’s Financial District, and accepted the award alongside the Air Products team, on behalf of NGHC and its sponsors.