Japanese financial services giant invests in Devon clean tech group

Japanese financial services giant Mizuho Bank has entered into a share subscription agreement with Devon-based Altilium Metals alongside a $2.5m (£1.96m) investment.

The firm has made the investment in the lithium-ion battery recycling company through its Transition Equity Investment Facility.

As well as Mizuho, Altilium also counts fellow Japanese company Marubeni Corporation amongst its shareholders.

Founded in 2020, Altilium operates a demonstration plant that recycles LiBs used in products such as electric vehicles to produce low-carbon and sustainable recycled battery materials.

Altilium aims to build a large-scale commercial plant in the UK to establish a business model that handles everything in-house, from LiB recovery to the production of battery materials, and build a circular supply chain for rare metals, which are becoming increasingly important
from an economic security perspective.

Mizuho Bank has been operating a Transition Equity Investment Facility, committing equity investments towards seed or early-stage projects to support clients in funding their sustainability initiatives. It said that by “sharing both opportunity and risk through such investment”, Mizuho aims to “co-create social value and contribute to the sustainability of the environment and society.”