State Aid

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Material adverse change provisions in credit agreements are under much heightened scrutiny in the current circumstances.

By James Chesterman and Helena Potts

In the current environment, both corporates and their lenders are trying to assess a fast-moving situation. Businesses are suspending operations, countries are limiting travel and non-essential activities, events are being cancelled and consumers are in actual or semi-lockdown.

At present, credit arrangements are an important source of cash for companies, and continuation of trade is a function of continued access of those credit lines. An absence of liquidity may force a board of directors to consider whether a company can continue to trade as a going concern in many jurisdictions. In many cases, this consideration involves an assessment of access to available lines of liquidity and credit, as well as a company’s ability to continue to meet its ongoing payment obligations.

Ofgem’s recently announced goals and developments and changes to the post-Brexit state aid regime will have important implications for market players.

By John D Colahan, Stephanie Adams, and Anuj Ghai

2020 is set to be a an important year for competition law-related enforcement in the UK energy sector not least as it waits for the final contours including any material changes post Brexit. We explore in this post two areas that we consider to be of particular importance:

  • The implementation of Ofgem’s goals flagged in its 2019 Energy Market Report
  • The implications for the energy sector of post-Brexit state aid enforcement in the UK

By Elisabetta Righini

Investment in the infrastructure that keeps Europe running smoothly continues to be a big theme in European private equity.

In every sector, from energy to sport, from transport to broadband, governments are increasingly calling in the private sector to build and operate infrastructure assets. Indeed, spending on infrastructure received a boost in 2014 when the European Commission launched the InvestEU programme, which aimed to generate more than €300 billion for projects across Europe. Only last month, Chancellor George Osborne pledged £100 billion of government funding to reinvigorate infrastructure development in the UK.