Fast-charging operator Fastned has opened a new chapter in its long-running retail bond programme. The Amsterdam-based company launches a new five-year bond issue, aiming to raise up to €100 million to finance further network expansion and refinance existing debt.

The new bonds, issued under Fastned’s existing bond programme, carry a fixed annual interest rate of 6%, paid quarterly, and mature in March 2031.

Unsecured, unrated

Like previous Fastned bonds, they are unsecured, unrated, and not listed on any exchange, meaning investors must be prepared to hold them until maturity or rely on limited peer-to-peer transfers.

The offer once again targets small and private investors, a group Fastned has consistently relied on since launching its first retail bonds in 2019.

Over the past few years, the company has raised several hundred million euros through successive bond tranches, using the proceeds to roll out one of Europe’s largest independent fast-charging networks.

Investing hundreds of millions

Behind the attractive coupon, however, lies a business that is still firmly in investment mode. According to the prospectus, Fastned invested close to €180 million in new stations and infrastructure between 2023 and mid-2025 alone, adding to a cumulative investment since inception that likely exceeds €250–300 million.

That capital has translated into a fast-charging network that now tops around 410 stations across nine European markets, with a particularly dense footprint in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The company has also secured land and grid connections for ‘dozens’ more locations yet to be commissioned, roughly 29 in Belgium and 32 in the Netherlands alone. It still pursues its stated goal of scaling to 1,000 stations by 2030.

Each station requires significant upfront grid, land, and civil engineering costs before it can begin delivering accelerating charging revenue.

This means that while Fastned’s site count continues to climb, the network as a whole has yet to generate sufficient free cash flow to cover that investment on its own and remains dependent on continued capital raises alongside operational growth.

Structurally loss-making

Cumulative investments since the company’s founding in 2012 are estimated to exceed €250–300 million. These investments have enabled rapid geographic expansion, but they have also kept the company structurally loss-making.

Fastned reported a net loss of €26.6 million in 2024, up from €19.3 million in 2023, and a further €18.3 million loss in the first half of 2025.

Operating cash flow remains negative, while net financial debt has risen sharply to nearly €232 million by mid-2025. In other words, the fast-charging network is growing quickly, but it is not yet generating enough cash to fund itself, let alone repay operating debt.

This is a familiar pattern in capital-intensive infrastructure sectors, particularly in EV charging, where stations often require many years of rising utilisation before reaching maturity.

Individual locations can eventually become highly profitable, but the network as a whole is still in its build-out phase. Fastned itself does not provide a precise payback timeline in the prospectus, instead acknowledging that bond repayments depend on continued revenue growth and access to future financing.

Nuanced proposition

For small investors, this makes the new bond issue a nuanced proposition. On the positive side, a 6% fixed return paid quarterly is attractive in a European market where traditional savings products still offer limited yields.

The company operates in a sector with strong long-term fundamentals, and Fastned has so far successfully refinanced its maturing bonds, often encouraging existing bondholders to roll over into new issues.

At the same time, the risks are clearly spelled out. The bonds are unsecured, offer no collateral, and are issued by a company that is not yet profitable and has a negative interest coverage ratio.

Repayment at maturity in 2031 is therefore unlikely to come from free cash flow alone, but rather from a combination of higher utilisation, improved margins, and — crucially — continued access to capital markets.