Refinancing

REFINANCING STRUCTURE OF THE VOLKSWAGEN GROUP

as of December 31, 2023

The Volkswagen Group further diversified its refinancing activities in 2023 and carried out several successful transactions in the international capital markets amid a challenging market environment.

With the growing electrification of the vehicle portfolio, sustainable financial instruments are an increasing focus of the refinancing strategy. In March 2023, Volkswagen International Finance N.V. placed two green bonds with a total volume of €1.75 billion. In August 2023, the company successfully issued its first green hybrid notes with a total principal amount of €1.75 billion after duly calling a hybrid note with a principal amount of €750 million to be redeemed as of September 4, 2023. These green bonds are based on the Volkswagen Group’s Green Finance Framework presented in November 2022. This allows the Company to refinance capital expenditures that are aligned with the EU Taxonomy, whereby Volkswagen will limit itself to all-electric vehicles. Volkswagen Financial Services AG also published its first Green Finance Framework in August 2023, which is to be used exclusively for refinancing financial products for all-electric vehicles. In September 2023, Volkswagen Leasing GmbH placed its first green bonds on the capital market with a total volume of €2.0 billion.

In the US capital market, Volkswagen Group of America Finance, LLC placed bonds with a total volume of USD 5.65 billion in September and November 2023. Notes with a volume of CAD 750 million were issued in the Canadian refinancing market.

The Volkswagen Group was active locally on the Chinese capital market for the first time through Volkswagen International Finance N.V. and issued what is known as a Panda bond worth CNY 1.5 billion in September 2023.

In May and November 2023, TRATON Finance Luxembourg S.A., an indirect subsidiary of TRATON SE, issued bonds in three tranches with a total volume of €1.75 billion.

In addition to this, the Volkswagen Group issued private placements in various currencies.

As well as the green bonds, official euro benchmark bonds were issued for a further €2.0 billion for the Financial Services Division. Securities were also issued in various currencies and regions.

Alongside the placement of senior, unsecured bonds, asset-backed securities (ABS) transactions were another element of our refinancing activities. In Europe, public ABS transactions with a total volume of €2.75 billion were placed. Public ABS transactions were also issued in the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Brazil.

The Volkswagen Group was also actively involved in the commercial paper market with several issuing companies.

The proportion of fixed-rate instruments in the past year was about 2.5 times as high as the proportion of floating-rate instruments.

In our refinancing arrangements, we generally aim to exclude interest rate and currency risk as far as possible with the simultaneous use of derivatives.

The following table shows which financial instruments were utilized on the money and capital markets as of December 31, 2023 and illustrates the financial flexibility of the Volkswagen Group:

Volkswagen AG’s syndicated credit line of €10.0 billion agreed in December 2019 was unused at the end of 2023.

Of the syndicated credit lines with a total of €15.1 billion at other Group companies, €0.1 billion has been drawn down. The Volkswagen Group continued to have bilateral confirmed credit lines with national and international banks in various countries for a total of €6.2 billion, of which €0.3 billion was drawn down.