International law firm Clifford Chance has advised leading Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) platform SkyNRG in relation to Macquarie Asset Management’s initial investment of up to €175 million in SkyNRG via the Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions (MGETS) Fund, to support the growth of SAF.
This new investment led by Macquarie Asset Management’s specialist Green Investments team will support SkyNRG’s next phase of growth and help achieve its ambitious goal to become a major SAF producer through the development and operation of SAF production facilities. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and the satisfaction of transaction terms.
SAF can reduce CO2 emissions by 75%+ compared to existing fossil jet fuel over its entire life span and can drastically reduce levels of other harmful emissions from aviation. There are multiple methods of producing SAF, including from waste feedstock, by using renewable feedstocks such as agricultural or forestry waste, or by combining hydrogen with CO2 either directly captured via “direct air capture” technologies or from certain industrial sources which otherwise would have been emitted into the atmosphere (also known as synthetic SAF). SkyNRG are planning to produce SAF using a combination of these technologies across their various sites. The demand for SAF is expected to significantly increase over the coming years, given the obligations within the recent Refuel EU Aviation for fuel suppliers to provide and airlines to use increasing minimum amounts of SAF and synthetic SAF in their fuel supply obligations, which should create a stable offtake market for SAF production facilities.
Tim Heerschop comments: “We are proud to have advised our client SkyNRG on this transaction that is at the forefront of the energy transition and supports the development of sustainable aviation fuel, offering a route to decarbonise the aviation sector.”
This transaction builds on Clifford Chance market leading M&A and Energy and Infrastructure practices. The Clifford Chance core team was led by Tim Heerschop and Gregory Crookes, and further consisted of Sabine van den Heuvel, Sebastiaan van Steenbergen, Maria Boerman (Corporate M&A) and Sabrina Spoor (Notarial). The wider team consisted of Liesbeth Buiter, Hein Tonnaer, Philip Walsh, Johanneke Butijn (Projects), Michiel Sunderman, Alec Sanderson, Cile Arnoldy (Tax), Astrid van Ommeren, Najib Muslem (Employment), Mark-Jan Arends (Notary) and Andrei Mikes (Tech//Digital).
