Israel Matzav: Israeli company signs agreement for one of the largest cleantech investments evah

Israeli company signs agreement for one of the largest cleantech investments evah

Israeli electric car maker Better Place has signed an agreement with a group of investors led by HSBC to invest $350 million in its SECOND equity round of financing (that's a huge amount for a second round). The company is valued at $1.25 BILLION.

This Series B equity financing round features participation from new investors including HSBC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and Lazard Asset Management. These investors will join existing Series A investors including Israel Corp., VantagePoint Venture Partners, Ofer Hi-Tech Holdings, Morgan Stanley Principal Investments, and Maniv Energy Capital, among others, as shareholders of Better Place. For HSBC, which led the round with an investment of $125 million, the deal represents one of the largest financial investments of its kind.

As part of the deal, Kevin Adeson, HSBC head of global capital financing, will join the Better Place board of directors, and HSBC will own approximately 10% of the company's shares.

"Today marks the end of an extensive process with the outcome being a decision by one of the world's largest, most conservative banks, HSBC, to take the validating step of investing in a private company intent on bringing innovation to the trillion-dollar automotive and energy industries," said Shai Agassi, Better Place founder and chief executive officer. "The strong investment commitment and global relationships that HSBC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Lazard Asset Management bring to the table combined with the continuing confidence from our original investors enable us to scale up globally and execute our plan."

In welcoming Adeson to the Board, Idan Ofer, chairman of Better Place and Israel Corp., remarked, "Kevin and the entire HSBC team will bring more than just capital to the table. We expect that HSBC will help us to scale in Europe, China and beyond, and we're already seeing the value that they are bringing to the company and the board."

The company expects to have cars on the road by the end of 2011. Read the whole thing.

How come the 'Palestinians' don't do stuff like that? Oh, forgot. They're busy developing other products. Heh.

Israel Matzav: Israeli company signs agreement for one of the largest cleantech investments evah