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New rights for employees
A number of new employment laws came into force in April 2024 to provide greater flexibility for employees, including enhanced flexible working rights and new leave entitlements.
Global | Publication | February 2024
Following the agreement at COP28 to “transition away from fossil fuel energy systems,” and to accelerate investment in low- and zero-carbon emission technologies1, strategic minority investments are set to become an increasing feature of the energy transaction landscape. Investor focus is being directed toward new energies and clean tech, including interconnectors, battery storage, smart grids, EVs, synchronous condensers, biogas, bio and synthetic fuels, floating wind, carbon capture and storage, green hydrogen, hydro and tidal stream, to name but a few.
With the drive to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) consider that global annual clean energy investment will need to increase to c.US$4 trillion by 20302, and a key means to achieve that will be by way of strategic minority investments.
Whilst “venturing” is nothing new, it clearly makes sense: exciting, early-stage ventures looking to scale-up and build credibility have found that partnering with well-established, highly capitalized energy companies navigating an increasingly crowded market, and searching for “the next big thing,” can be an effective route-to-market. Conversely, capital-intensive, long-term, nascent energy or clean tech projects are inherently risky, so there is a clear need for investors to spread risk and avoid overexposure to a single investment.
There is increasing appetite for energy venturing from the energy majors, other integrated energy companies, infrastructure funds and private equity funds, and investment opportunities are in no short supply.
For a number of investors, particularly the energy majors, such investments also present “value add,” or other revenue-generating opportunities which would not otherwise be available. This, together with the long-term investment horizon, means that the relationship between investor and target is generally much more holistic and strategic. It also means that the negotiating dynamic and investor protection considerations require an approach which is particular to energy venturing.
In that context, the following topics are just some of the key issues to consider when implementing a strategic minority investment:
Andrew Davies (Partner) and Sam Morrey (Senior Associate) are corporate energy lawyers with Norton Rose Fulbright LLP based in London and recently advised TotalEnergies on its strategic minority investment in the Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project.
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On 18 September 2023, the CMA published its Initial Report (Initial Report) on AI Foundation Models (FM), supplemented in April 2024 with the publication of its “Update Paper” focused on potential antitrust risks associated with FMs and a “Technical Update Report” providing more detail on the development on FMs (collectively the “Reports”). Below, we consider these CMA publications.
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