Partners Group co-leads fundraising round of CHF 600m in Climeworks

Niederer Kraft Frey advised leading global private markets firm Partners Group on its investment in Climeworks, a Switzerland-based designer, developer, and operator of carbon dioxide Direct Air Capture plants, as co-lead in a CHF 600 million fundraising round together with GIC.

Founded in 2009 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich, Climeworks provides carbon dioxide removal services to businesses and individuals. Climeworks has so far built 15 Direct Air Capture (DAC) plants, including the world’s largest DAC and storage plant, which started operations last September in Iceland. Direct Air Capture technology is critical to reaching global net-zero goals.

The capital from this equity round is to be used for capacity scale-up and geographical expansion – pilot projects have started in the US, the Nordics, and the Middle East – as well as investment into technology development and scaling the organization. Climeworks aims to become a dominant platform in the growing DAC market.

The NKF team advising Partners Group was led by Corporate/Capital Markets partner Philippe Weber, working with partner Thomas Brönnimann as well as associate Daniela Lötscher and junior associate Lukas Würgler.

Clifford Chance, led by partner Ansalm Addatz (Düsseldorf, Germany), acted as international counsel to Partners Group.