BERLIN, Aug 3 (Reuters) - German hydrogen firm HH2E may consider a stock market listing if required to fund its ambitious growth plans in the future, one of its co-founders said, adding that for now the company's focus remained on ramping up its operational business.
HH2E, a project developer in which UK-listed funds Foresight Group and HydrogenOne Capital Growth own stakes, aims to benefit from rising demand in green hydrogen and the technology needed to produce it.
It wants to have 4 gigawatt of capacity in Germany by 2030, and already requires up to 300 million euros ($337 million) in funds for its initial expansion phase.
"I think an IPO is definitely an interesting thing, especially if you need the money for further growth," said Andreas Schierenbeck, one of HH2E's board members and a former top executive at Uniper and Thyssenkrupp.
"If (the market) is really developing as we assume there is a lot of capital necessary," he said during a Reuters Events interview.
While it was not a priority for the company to look into a possible listing yet, Schierenbeck said such a step could not be ruled out: "If you need that for growth and to finance our growth, why not. We will see."
Schierenbeck's comments come a month after rival Thyssenkrupp Nucera successfully listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange, indicating rising investor appetite for the technology that uses renewable energy to make hydrogen.
HH2E is currently working on getting two hydrogen projects off the ground in Germany, one in Saxony and one in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which could both be ramped up to a combined 2 gigawatts in capacity by 2030.
Fellow co-founder Alexander Voigt agreed that in order to get the money needed for the green hydrogen transformation, several parts of the capital market would have to be tapped.
"And therefore we will see how to move on. But it's too early to take a conclusion on that," Voigt told Reuters during the interview. ($1 = 0.8913 euros) (Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Emma Rumney)