ASUNCIÓN – IDB Invest coordinated a debt financing package to support the development of Project Villeta, Paraguay’s first green hydrogen-based fertiliser production and export project. The financing will allow Atome Paraguay SAE to build and operate an industrial-scale plant in Villeta, near Asunción, one of the largest private investments in the country’s history.
With an estimated direct investment of approximately US$650 million, Project Villeta is backed by a diversified equity consortium that includes industrial sponsors, global hydrogen-focused private equity investors, and development finance institutions. The project is supported by a US$420 million debt financing package, for which IDB Invest acted as global financial coordinator and as the largest single lender.
IDB Invest’s contribution totals approximately $156 million and includes:
- A $95 million senior loan.
- A $31 million standby letter of credit facility.
- A $30 million concessional loan from the Canadian Net Zero and Climate Resilience Accelerator supporting the project’s debt service structure.
Project Villeta will create skilled, long-term jobs and develop local technical expertise, positioning Paraguay as a regional pioneer in green hydrogen development. The project will expand Paraguay’s industrial capabilities, diversify its productive base, and strengthen agricultural value chains across Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil by supplying fertilisers to the region.
The plant will use Paraguay’s 100 percent hydroelectric matrix to produce green hydrogen and convert it into fertilisers for regional export. Around 90 percent of its projected annual production of approximately 262,460 tons is expected to be exported.
“Project Villeta represents the kind of transformational investment that can expand Paraguay’s productive base and strengthen its role in regional value chains,” said James Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest. “By leveraging Paraguay’s natural advantages and abundant hydroelectric power to develop new industrial capacity, the project will help diversify the economy, support the competitiveness of the agricultural sector across the Southern Cone, and create long-term economic opportunities.
“We are sincerely grateful to IDB Invest and the Lender group for their tremendous support for this flagship project which ATOME has originated, developed, and will continue to manage on behalf of the lending and equity funders,” said Peter Levine, Chairman, Atome. “This is a significant, world-leading project with clear environmental benefits.
The debt financing package, structured with the advice of Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, also includes the participation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
The agreement between IDB Invest and Atome was signed during the IDB Group’s Annual Meetings in Paraguay. IDB Invest mobilised development partners under its Originate-to-Share business model, designed to structure projects that attract additional capital to support development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
