104 | From Equity to Debt: How CDR Gets Bankable - with Julia Reichelstein and Tyler Manchester

In this episode of The Carbon Removal Scoop, Sebastian Manhart sits down with Julia Reichelstein, co-founder and CEO of Vaulted Deep, and Tyler Manchester, Head of Voluntary Carbon at CFP Energy, to get the inside story of Vaulted's $35 million debt facility from Mediobanca. Julia explains why Vaulted grew on equity for its first two sites and why, with a delivery track record and a pipeline of new sites, it has now reached what she calls the "just add water" stage where debt is the right capital.

Tyler explains why this is CFP Energy's first debt transaction in carbon removal after two decades in carbon markets, and what it took to get comfortable: a developer with a proven record, high-credit offtakers removing market risk, and an insurer covering the residual project risk that institutional lenders expect. He is open about who else can get through the door, including the rough minimum loan size CFP will consider, and why he thinks the market's chicken-and-egg problem is finally starting to crack.

Julia makes the case that bankability starts long before anyone talks to a bank. She describes how the fine print of an offtake contract, the page she once skipped past, became the page lenders scrutinised most, and recounts the working capital fight that pushed registries and buyers towards monthly crediting. Both credit Frontier for brokering the introduction and publishing offtake templates others can reuse.

They close on policy. Every debt deal discussed in the episode closed outside Europe, and Tyler sets out what would change that: projectable revenue, ideally fixed forward prices or a liquid forward market. Sebastian lays down a challenge for the first European deal, and Tyler accepts it.

LINKS:
• Sebastian Manhart:linkedin.com/in/sebastianmanhart/LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/sebastianmanhart) andsebastianmanhart.com/Website (sebastianmanhart.com)
• Julia Reichelstein: LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/jreichelstein)
• Tyler Manchester: LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/tyler-manchester-32b4a268)
• Vaulted Deep: Website (vaulteddeep.com)
• CFP Energy: Website (cfp.energy)
• Vaulted Deep secures $35 million in debt financing (cfp.energy/en/insights/vaulted-deep-secures-35…)
• Frontier offtake agreement template (frontierclimate.com/offtake-agreement-template)
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