Transport and critical commodities have featured prominently in Deutsche Bank’s success with its four winning deals at the TXF Perfect 10 Deals of the Year awards. Nominations of deals that were completed in 2024 were examined in a judging process that was a mix of votes for deals on TXF’s Dealmakers Database¹ and from expert judges.

TXF’s Managing Editor Max Thompson observed that the 2024 winners “pushed the envelope for innovation and ingenuity” as well as helping to “open up new pools of liquidity to future facing commodities, green and social projects”. The underlying common denominator of the winning export finance deals was, he said, “the stronger focus on sustainability”.

Both awards programmes exhibit the best examples of innovation within their respective industries, and the strength of this year’s winning transactions is testament to Deutsche Bank’s comprehensive offering across both the export finance and natural resources businesses.

Presented at TXF Perfect 10 Awards ceremony on 11 June 2025 as part of the Exile Global 2025 Export, Agency and Project Finance event in Copenhagen, Deutsche Bank won:

• Social Infrastructure Export Finance Deal of the Year – Nakkas Otoyol Yatirim ve Isletme. The DFI/ECA-backed €1.04 billion non-recourse financing for the greenfield development of a motorway to be developed in the Istanbul Province, Turkey was a landmark deal contributing to multiple sustainable development goals. The project will be the eighth and last section to be completed of the Northern Marmara Motorway, a 450km motorway which connects Turkey's Asian and European parts. Deutsche Bank acted as co-facility agent with UBS Group, and co-hedging bank with Natixis. Standard Chartered acted as adviser and all four banks were lenders.
• SME Export Finance Deal of the Year – The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development Cameroon (MINEPAT). Cameroon signed a SACE-backed loan for a strategic national road project of around 70km between Olounou and Oveng – the strategic route between Cameroons capital (Younde) and neighbouring Gabon. The deal has provided a financial blueprint for SME exporters to get involved in future such deals in the country. For further information see the flow case study here.

Commenting on the award wins, Moritz Doernemann and Werner Schmidt, Co-Heads of Structured Trade and Export Finance at Deutsche Bank (pictured below at the event) said, “We were particularly proud of these awards, given the transformational impact each project is having on the respective local economies as they reflect our commitment to financing progress where it matters most.”

The Nakkas Otoyol Tatirim ve Isletme deal team.

Turning to the Natural Resources Finance awards, these were presented on 14 May on the first night of the TXF Global Natural Resources and Commodity Finance event in Amsterdam. The attraction of track record commodity trader borrowers was underlined by the revolving credit facility with Vitol – together with borrowing base lending facility for Traxys – a producer of critical minerals and battery materials. The deals were:

• Revolving Credit Facility of the Year – Vitol SA and Vitol US BV who reached close on refinanced revolving credit facilities (RCFs) totalling US$11.975bn in September 2024 featuring 68 lenders. The total is comprised of a one-year US4$3.35bn and a three-year US$8.625bn RCF (significant on an unsecured facility), both for general corporate purposes. The Swiss-based Dutch multinational energy and commodity trading company is the largest independent energy trading company in the world with revenues of around US$400bn in 2023.²
• Borrowing Base Deal of the Year – Traxys. This was a US$1.6bn BBL underpinning the company’s growth in critical metals and minerals – particularly base metals and battery materials. Arranged by several major banks with Deutsche bank acting as one of the lead arrangers and bookrunners, it is structured into four tranches with varying terms, including both committed and uncommitted borrowing base options. The four tranches mix uncommitted and committed debt while an accordion facility allowed for a US$30m increase when the facility was oversubscribed.

“The energy transition continues to be metals intensive – metals and mining is a key strategic growth driver over the next two decades,” reflected Deutsche Bank’s Global Head of Natural Resources Finance Yann Ropers. “It is no surprise that the Perfect 10 natural resources finance wins reflect this, and we are delighted to have won these awards,” he added.

Sources

¹ See txfnews.com
² See vitol.com