News

EIB announces EUR 300m investment in space

The European Investment Fund and the EU Commission announced investment of some EUR 300 million into the European space sector Wednesday, supporting ground-breaking innovation in the industry.

The EIF/EC announcement at the European Space Conference was of investment into two space tech focused funds - Orbital Ventures and Primo Space, under the first ever EU-backed equity pilot - the InnovFin Space Equity Pilot. An additional investment expected to be signed by end of Q1 will mark the full deployment of the €100m InnovFin Space Equity Pilot. These agreements are supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the central pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.

Orbital Ventures, a Luxembourg based early stage fund, focuses on space technologies including downstream (communications, cryptography, data storage and processing, geolocation, earth observation) and upstream (space hardware, materials, electronics, robotics, rockets, satellites) areas. Primo Space, an Italian early-stage tech transfer investor, was the first fund ...

Emirates company to build world’s largest solar plant

The Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA) on Tuesday announced it has secured funding to build the world’s largest solar power plant.

The successful financial closing of Al-Dhafra Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Independent Power Producer (IPP) project was achieved alongside TAQA’s partners Masdar, EDF Renewables and JinkoPower.

The plant will be located around 35km from Abu Dhabi city, will have capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW) and will supply power to the Emirates Water and Electricity Co. (EWEC).

When complete, Al-Dhafra Solar PV IPP will be the world’s largest single-site solar power plant, using approximately 4 million solar panels to generate enough electricity for approximately 160,000 homes across the UAE.

Funding for the project will be sourced from seven international banks. TAQA will own 40 percent of the project while Masdar, EDF Renewables and JinkoPower will have a 20 percent stake each. 

/Source: ArabNews/

Range Resources Prices $550-Million Senior Notes Offering

Range Resources Corporation RRC recently announced the pricing of $550 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes. The offering of the notes, being upsized from $500 million, is likely to close on Jan 24.

The senior notes, carrying an interest rate of 9.25% and expected to mature in 2026, have been priced at par. The upstream energy player estimates the offering’s net proceeds at roughly $541.6 million.

Range Resources is planning to set aside a portion of the net proceeds for the purchase of target senior notes in tender offers, commenced on Jan 8. The tender offer is to purchase for cash a collective target notes of a total aggregate principal amount of up $500 million. Notably, the outstanding target notes comprise three senior notes. One of the notes carries an interest rate of 5.750% and will mature in 2021. The other two notes will mature in 2022 and carry an interest ...

Orix to Buy Spanish Energy Firm Elawan for About $965 Million

Tokyo-based Orix is purchasing an 80% stake from Elawan’s management and Spanish industrial company Acek, company spokeswoman Yuka Kanaoka said Monday. With an additional capital injection later, the deal is worth about 100 billion yen ($965 million), she said.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions, Orix said in a statement.

The acquisition will expand Orix’s global renewable energy operations as it broadens a business portfolio that ranges from leasing to banking and real estate. Acek, which also owns car parts maker Gestamp Automocion SA, has been selling stakes in renewable assets.

Elawan, set up in 2007, develops and operates wind and solar power projects in Europe and the Americas. It has 714 megawatts of operational projects, more than 460 megawatts under construction and a development pipeline of over 10 gigawatts.

Orix has been ramping up investment ...

Mitsubishi Heavy to build largest zero-carbon steel plant

Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will soon complete construction in Austria of the world's largest carbon-free steel plant.

Mitsubishi Heavy, through its UK division, is building a pilot plant at the Austrian steel company Voestalpine. Trial operation is scheduled to begin in 2021.

The plant will use hydrogen instead of coal in the iron ore recovery process. The new generation equipment will produce 250,000 tons of steel products per year. According to the International Energy Agency, the global steel industry produced about 2 billion tonnes of CO 2 in 2018, which is double the 2000 level. The share of the steel sector among all industries increased by 5 percentage points to 25%.

Mitsubishi Heavy uses the DRI or Direct Reduction of Iron from Pellet process.

Mitsubishi Heavy, the third largest supplier of steelmaking equipment in the world, also joins the pool of hydrogen companies. In October, Mitsubishi Heavy bought a stake in a Norwegian ...

Lockheed Martin buying rocket-engine maker Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.4 billion

Lockheed Martin is buying rocket engine manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings for $4.4 billion in a deal that brings together companies that already had been working together in the aeronautics industry.

The acquisition announced late Sunday is part of Lockheed Martin’s LMT, -0.08% attempt to gird for competition from recent industry entrants, Space X and Blue Origin, which are backed by two of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

“Acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne will preserve and strengthen an essential component of the domestic defense industrial base and reduce costs for our customers and the American taxpayer,” Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet said in a statement.

Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed is paying $56 per share, 33% above the Friday closing price of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s AJRD, +0.44% stock. The final price will be reduced to $51 per share after accounting for a special dividend of $5 per share that will be paid just before the ...

London-based TransferGo secures €5 million from Silicon Valley Bank to power instant payments

TransferGo, one of the world’s fastest growing money transfer companies, today announces it has received around €5 million in financing from Silicon Valley Bank UK Branch (SVB), the bank of the world’s most innovative companies. This will enable the business to further develop and expand its real-time payments platform for consumers, SMEs and enterprise clients.

With over 35 years of experience partnering with innovators, SVB’s financial expertise and guidance will enable TransferGo to pursue an accelerated programme of digital payments transformation. With remittances proving a mainstay of financial inclusion, even during the midst of a pandemic, today’s partnership signals a commitment by TransferGo and SVB to service millions of migrants that want to send money home – quickly, securely and affordably.

Despite the market volatility throughout the year, TransferGo continues to defy expectations, seeing cross border payments through its corridors grow by over 117% for the last fiscal year. The funding will ...

Covid-19 vaccine developer AstraZeneca agrees to buy rare disease firm Alexion for $39 billion

Leading Covid-19 vaccine developer AstraZeneca agreed on Saturday to buy Boston pharmaceutical firm Alexion (ALXN) for $39 billion.

The acquisition is one of the largest deals of the year for the drug industry and would expand AstraZeneca's (AZN) reach in rare diseases. Alexion has an immunology unit in Boston that serves patients with rare disorders.

AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish drugmaker headquartered in the United Kingdom, has partnered with the University of Oxford to produce a Covid-19 vaccine. It's in the final stages of development and is awaiting authorization from European and British governments. Last month, the company found its vaccine was 70% effective on average, but scientific experts raised concerns over a lack of transparency in reporting the vaccine trial data, potentially slowing down the timeline for approval.

AstraZeneca agreed to pay for the purchase with a mix of cash and stock, and said it took out a short-term loan of $17.5 billion from ...

Uber sells autonomous vehicle division to start-up

Despite being the largest ride-sharing firm in the world, Uber has consistently failed to make a profit since its inception. The company lost around $8.5bn in 2019.

Under the new deal, Uber will invest $400m into self-driving vehicles start-up Aurora to hold a 26 per cent stake in the firm and Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join its board of directors. Aurora will also take control of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) and incorporate its team and technology into its own.

Uber has long been hedging its bets on driverless technology as a way to reach profitability and avoid the high cost of driver acquisition and onboarding as well as regulatory pressure to ensure hourly wage minimums.

It has also faced court battles following a fatal crash in one of its driverless cars that caused the death of a pedestrian and negative press for the firm.

Uber had already started pulling resources away from ...

Porsche investing $24 million in ‘e-fuels’ to supplement electrification of sports cars

German automaker Porsche is investing about $24 million in the development of “e-fuels,” which officials say is a climate-neutral fuel to replace gasoline in nonelectric vehicles.

Production of such a fuel would allow the company and potentially other automakers a way to continue producing vehicles such as Porsche’s iconic 911 sports car with a traditional engine alongside, or rather than, a new electric model. While electric vehicles can offer outstanding performance, the driving dynamics of the vehicles are different than traditional engines.

The announcement does not change Porsche’s target to have half of Porsche models sold by 2025 to be electrified, including all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Porsche, owned by Volkswagen, announced the investment in partnership with Siemens’ renewable energy unit and other international companies such as energy firm AME and the petroleum company ENAP from Chile. It includes developing and implementing a plant in Chile that is expected to yield the “world’s ...