DLA Piper advise Aviva Investors on up to EUR800 million European industrial energy transition platform

DLA Piper has advised Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc, on its partnership with Astatine, an Irish energy infrastructure specialist, to establish a new industrial energy transition platform with an expected investment capacity of up to EUR800 million, aimed at supporting emission reductions in some of Europe’s most energy intensive industries and hard-to-abate sectors.

The new platform will focus on energy infrastructure projects in the power, heat and transport sectors, assisting with early-stage development, full asset delivery, and subsequent operation of the assets. This will include acquiring, constructing, and operating solar photovoltaic (PV), battery energy storage systems (BESS), substations, industrial heat pumps and heat recovery systems, industrial EV charging solutions and electric fleets, including electric HGVs.

These technologies will be installed either “behind the meter” (directly on client premises to deliver tailored, on-site renewable energy solutions) or “front of the meter” (connected directly to national grids). It will focus on hard-to-abate sectors such as data centres, food and beverage, cement, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and manufacturing, with projects in Ireland, the UK and continental Europe.

The DLA Piper team was led by partners Rubayet Choudhury (Finance) and Jonathan Watkins (Corporate), supported by key team members legal directors Jacques Camilleri (Finance) and Jonathan Paines (Corporate), partner Darach Connolly (Lit&Reg) and Senior Associate Dara McDonald (Corporate).

Rubayet Choudhury, commenting on the deal, said: “We are proud to support Aviva in establishing this platform, which will enable large energy users decarbonise their operations. Driving progress in hard-to-abate sectors is essential to the energy transition, and we look forward to seeing the platform go from strength to strength.”