Korea’s SeAH Steel Holdings will pump additional investment into an offshore wind factory in England after securing a £225mn financing package backed by the UK and Korean export credit agencies.

Funding is being provided by Standard Chartered and HSBC, with UK Export Finance (UKEF) guaranteeing 70% of the total and the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure) backstopping the remaining 30%.

SeAH Wind UK will use the proceeds to make a fresh investment into its monopile factory project in Teesside, in the northeast of the country.

The deal upsizes a previous £367mn facility, agreed in November last year, which was also backed by UKEF and K-Sure.

“Wind monopiles act as the foundation for most offshore wind turbines and are critical to the growth of the global renewable energy sector. Upon completion of the factory, SeAH Wind UK will export to US and European markets,” UKEF says.

The factory is expected to start production early next year and is slated to be one of the world’s largest wind technology factories.

According to UKEF, the latest financing means the factory “will be able to produce even bigger monopiles and a wider range of products to meet industry demands”. The project will create up to 750 jobs by 2027.

“This project underscores the importance of export finance in helping our clients grow their operations globally and facilitating their journey to net zero,” says a statement from Ian Stuart, CEO of HSBC UK.

Tim Reid, chief executive of UKEF, says the investment shows that there is “international confidence in the UK economy”.

In the past two years, the global offshore wind industry has been acutely impacted by rising costs linked to the Ukraine crisis and sector-specific supply chain disruptions, notably for turbine installation vessels.

Wind manufacturers have increasingly sought export credit agency (ECA) bonding facilities to cover their contract risks, and export finance banks are gearing up for project finance opportunities in new markets such as Poland, Spain and Italy.

The transaction highlights the growing flexibility of export credit providers as they work to drive inward investment, shifting away from their historic approach of supporting export contracts.

UKEF’s support is being provided under its export development guarantee programme. In recent weeks, Poland’s Kuke launched a transition guarantee to facilitate the country’s shift from coal. Under the scheme, it will provide 80% cover to investment loans in sectors such as wind, solar and gas.