NEW YORK, HOUSTON and LONG BEACH – November 8, 2023 – Apollo (NYSE: APO) and Vitol today announced that Apollo-managed funds (the “Apollo Funds”) and Vitol have agreed to provide a structured debt and equity financing to WattEV (“WattEV” or the “Company”), an industry leader in heavy-duty freight electrification providing end-to-end solutions to customers through the development of electric charging infrastructure and provisioning of electric vehicle trucks.
Based in Long Beach, California, WattEV benefits from a first-mover advantage in the medium- and heavy-duty electrification space and operates the largest heavy-duty public access electric charging site by capacity in the U.S. at the Port of Long Beach. The Company will seek to provide a solution for the more than 30,000 heavy-duty drayage trucks in California that must comply with near-term regulations to eliminate emissions, while over time facilitating the electrification of heavy-duty vehicles across the country more broadly. New financing from the Apollo Funds and Vitol will help WattEV fund the development of its near-term truck charging depots throughout California, including locations in warehouse districts in nearby Gardena, San Bernadino, and Bakersfield.
Salim Youssefzadeh, Co-Founder and CEO of WattEV, commented, “By providing the infrastructure, supplies and services to move freight and help fleets transition to cleaner electric energy, WattEV is able to help customers achieve meaningful decarbonization benefits while providing an efficient, effective and economical solution for shippers and carriers across the country. With the support of the Apollo and Vitol teams, we believe we are well positioned to scale our operations and make meaningful change towards a greener future.”
Apollo Partner Joey Romeo said, “With a differentiated business model, first-mover advantage and significant tailwinds supporting the Company’s trajectory, we believe WattEV is poised to capture a significant share of the high-growth EV fleet charging sector. We are excited to partner with Vitol on this financing to help accelerate the Company’s growth and look forward to working with the WattEV team to help the Company execute on its mission to accelerate the heavy-duty trucking industry’s transition to all-electric transportation.”
“With 1.2 GW of operational renewable generation capacity and over $2.2 billion committed to renewable and sustainable investments, Vitol is focused on building an energy business for the future,” said R. Andrew de Pass, Head of Renewables and Sustainability Investments at Vitol. “WattEV’s leadership in using distributed energy resources with solar and battery storage to support the growth of clean freight transportation is aligned with our commitments to clean energy and zero emission transport,” de Pass said.
The transaction underscores Apollo’s commitment to driving a more sustainable future and long track record of investing in or lending to companies supporting the energy transition. Last year, Apollo launched its Sustainable Investing Platform, which targets the deployment of $50 billion in clean energy and climate capital by 2027 and sees the opportunity to deploy more than $100 billion by 2030. Over the last five years, Apollo Funds have deployed over $23 billion[1] into energy transition and sustainability-related investments, supporting companies and projects across clean energy and infrastructure, including offshore and onshore wind, solar, storage, renewable fuels, electric vehicles as well as a wide range of technologies to facilitate decarbonization.
Like Apollo, Vitol has a strong legacy of investing in companies driving forward the energy transition and pursuing decarbonizing technologies, from its sustainable transport company VGMobility, which delivers e-fleet solutions in South America to battery swapping solution provider, Sun Mobility in India.
Marathon Capital served as financial advisor to WattEV on the transaction.
[1] As of December 2022. Reflects (a) for equity investments: (i) total enterprise value at time of signed commitment for initial equity commitments; (ii) additional capital contributions from Apollo funds and co-invest vehicles for follow-on equity investments; and (iii) contractual commitments of Apollo funds and co-invest vehicles at the time of initial commitment for preferred equity investments; (b) for debt investments: (i) purchase price on the settlement date for private non-traded debt; (ii) increases in maximum exposure on a period-over-period basis for publicly-traded debt; (iii) total capital organized on the settlement date for syndicated debt; and (iv) contractual commitments of Apollo funds and co-invest vehicles as of the closing date for real estate debt; (c) for SPACs, the total sponsor equity and capital organized as of the respective announcement dates; (d) for platform acquisitions, the purchase price on the signed commitment date; and (e) for platform originations, the gross origination value on the origination date.