Fonds Bois et Eco-Matériaux
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Bpifrance announces the second closing of its Wood and Eco-Materials Fund at €80 million, with Eiffage joining the investor group

Grupa Eiffage

03 Jun - 18:29

Paris, June 3, 2021 at 5:40 p.m – Bpifrance launched the Wood and Eco-Materials Fund in late 2020 as part of the France Relance recovery plan, initially endowed with €70 million. That goal has now been exceeded, with the Eiffage group joining the original investors. In addition to its financial contribution, the Eiffage group will bring its knowledge of the low-carbon materials supply chain and its expertise in low-carbon construction. It intends to play an active role in the third generation of the Wood Fund.

 

With its successful second closing at nearly €80 million, the Wood and Eco-Materials Fund restates its ambition of bringing together a group of stakeholders committed to providing support and guidance to SMEs and mid-market companies in the French wood and biosourced furniture and furnishings sectors. The Wood and Eco-Materials Fund, which targets all participants in the primary and secondary processing, timber construction, wood packaging, furnishings, fittings, wood energy, paper/cardboard, wood innovation and bio-sourced materials, is now supported by the Eiffage group. It is a major European actor in the construction sector and had already invested in the first-generation Wood Fund in 2009. Today it is renewing its commitment at a key time for these sectors as they face up to very strong demand for low-carbon and biosourced construction sector, major adjustments to production capacity and issues with accessing and managing natural resources sustainably.

The wood and bio-sourced material construction sector provides concrete and immediately available solution to current challenges:

  • major demand for low-carbon solutions;
  • emergence of off-site building and dry building techniques for industrialising construction processes and reducing worksite nuisance;
  • effective timber and bio-sourced materials insulation solutions;
  • structuring of short supply chains fostering local job creation and reducing the carbon footprint linked to materials shipments;
  • support for the wood and eco-materials sector using resources from sustainably managed forestry resources.

“Bpifrance, a long-time advocate of the need for companies to embrace the energy and environmental transition, including under a mass-scale Climate Plan, is pleased to welcome the Eiffage group as a new investor of the Wood and Eco-materials Fund” commented José Gonzalo, Executive Director of Development Capital at Bpifrance. “The strengthening of the Wood Fund 3 illustrates our willingness to support the French wood construction and bio-sourced materials sector and to kickstart its drive to be carbon-neutral by 2050.”

Read the press release