Stephen Jewkes and Elisa Azolin

MILAN (Reuters), Industrie De Nora in Italy, which produces components for green hydrogen production, has chosen Goldman Sachs (NYSE) as its preferred partner. Credit Suisse (SIX) To work on plans to list Milan in Milan. Two sources told Tuesday.

One source said that the initial public offering (IPO) is scheduled for spring next year and could bring the company’s value to more than 2 billion euro ($2.3 billion).

The acquisition of De Nora’s 33% stake by Italian gas giant Snam was completed last year. Debt included, it is valued at around 1.2 Billion Euros. Snam holds 37%.

De Nora Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and De Nora declined to comment.

According to sources, investors were attracted by the potential green hydrogen market as an option for cutting fossil fuel consumption and limiting climate change.

De Nora also works in the water treatment industry. They are a top manufacturer of electrodes for devices known as electrolysers. These machines generate green hydrogen, carbon-free.

The company also owns 34% in an electrolyser joint venture partnership with ThyssenKrupp Germany, which is involved at large scale global hydrogen projects.

The second source stated that the stake was worth over 1 billion Euros.

Brussels will give hydrogen an important role as the energy transition progresses. It is committed to helping clean up countries and to decarbonise hard-to-electrify areas such as heavy transportation.

De Nora’s annual revenue of 500 million euro last year was 60% of its electrode business. In a year that was marked by the COVID pandemic, core earnings grew to 80.5 millions euros.

($1 = 0.8655 euros)