Citi has acted as the sole global coordinator on a €1bn export financing framework facility backed by Euler Hermes for energy company Enel.
The bank also served as mandated lead arranger, lender, export credit agency (ECA) agent and facility agent on the deal. Meanwhile, the loans under the agreement carry a 95% guarantee from the German ECA.
Citi structured the financing as an overarching framework agreement, giving Enel a “flexible architecture” that can be drawn down in different currencies by various subsidiaries across the group, it said in a statement.
A first loan of US$580mn under the facility has already been extended to Enel Finance International NV, a subsidiary of the Italian energy group.
The financing solution “builds upon Enel’s relationships with German suppliers and has a focus on renewable energy, supporting Enel’s strategic corporate activities and growth objectives”, the statement added.
Germany’s Euler Hermes has recently revamped its so-called ‘shopping line’ product – which bundles multiple German export transactions into one or more credit tranches – to help domestic firms, including SMEs, access large foreign procurement programmes.
Financing banks can then obtain cover from Euler Hermes for a credit facility extended to the foreign buyer.
Citi’s head of export and agency finance, Richard Hodder, said the “Euler Hermes shopping line is an innovative financing tool, and we are proud to have delivered a solution that meets the needs of a global organisation such as Enel”.
The deal comes as the bank’s export and agency finance business continues to expand, with Citi reporting that average loans in its trade and treasury solutions unit grew by 10% last year, driven in part by continued demand for export agency finance.
The transaction also adds to a run of ECA-backed renewables financings for European utilities. Earlier this year, Denmark’s export credit agency backed an €850mn HSBC-led loan to French utility company Engie to help finance European wind projects.
Citi has also previously arranged a similar structure for Spanish energy company Iberdrola, signing a €500mn facility guaranteed by Eksfin, Norway’s export credit agency, to finance equipment from Norwegian exporters for one of the firm’s offshore wind projects in the UK.
A recent Berne Union report found that renewable energy was a major driver of new medium- and long-term export credit commitments in 2025, totalling US$17.5bn and representing a 38.2% increase compared to 2024.
