Category: 3. Business

  • DLA Piper advises Ping An Insurance on HKD11.765 billion convertible bond issuance

    DLA Piper has advised its long-standing client Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (Ping An) on its successful issuance of HKD11.765 billion (approximately USD1.53 billion) in convertible bonds. This deal is the biggest convertible bond issuance denominated in US dollars or Hong Kong dollars by a Chinese company this year.

    Ping An is one of the largest and most innovative insurance and financial services companies in the world. These convertible bonds, which are due in 2030, carry a zero coupon, and will be listed on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and convertible into the H shares listed in Hong Kong. The proceeds from this issuance will be used to further develop Ping An’s core business and strengthen its capital position, support new strategic initiatives in the healthcare and elderly care sectors, and for general corporate purposes.

    The deal follows DLA Piper’s earlier advisory role in Ping An’s landmark USD3.5 billion convertible bonds issuance in July 2024, which set multiple records as the largest Reg-S-only convertible bond, the largest convertible bond in the insurance sector, and the first offshore convertible bond ever issued by a Chinese insurance company. The deal was recognized as “Deal of the Year” by China Business Law Journal.  Together, these deals highlight Ping An’s agility in leveraging diverse funding avenues and DLA Piper’s expertise in advising complex, record-setting transactions.

    The DLA Piper team was led by Roy Chan, Senior Partner and Co-Country Managing Partner in China; Philip Lee, Head of Capital Markets, Asia Pacific and Regional Head of DLA Piper’s Financial Services sector in Asia; and Vivian Liu, Head of Capital Market Compliance for Greater China. They were supported by senior associates Yingshi Pan and Le Jing Ong and consultants Daina Wang and Ivy Zou.

    Roy Chan commented: “We are delighted to have supported Ping An on another significant transaction. This issuance not only underscores Ping An’s strong market position but also highlights the growing importance of convertible bonds as a financing tool for leading companies in the region.”

    Vivian Liu added: “Our cross-border team worked seamlessly to ensure the successful execution of this complex transaction, demonstrating our firm’s capability to handle high-profile deals across multiple jurisdictions.”

    Philip Lee stated: “This transaction reflects our commitment to providing top-tier legal services to our clients in the financial sector. We look forward to continuing our support for Ping An as they pursue their strategic objectives.”

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  • Baker McKenzie Advises Bain Capital on the formation of a leading European Digital Transaction Management software platform | Newsroom

    Baker McKenzie Advises Bain Capital on the formation of a leading European Digital Transaction Management software platform | Newsroom

    Leading global law firm, Baker McKenzie, has advised Bain Capital on the entry into of exclusive negotiations for Signaturit to join the Namirial Group.

    The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals and employee representative consultation.

    Namirial, which Bain Capital announced it was acquiring from Ambienta in March 2025 (closing expected in July 2025), is a leading provider of DTM software solutions. Signaturit is one of the leading providers of cloud-based DTM services in Southern Europe, offering solutions across digital identity management, Digital Signature, KYC & fraud prevention, and eID wallet. The combination of Namirial with Signaturit will create a leading Pan-European DTM provider with a leading position across Italy, Spain, France, and Germany with ~1,400 employees and serving ~240,000 customers worldwide.

    The Baker McKenzie team was led by Private Equity Partners Alex Lewis and David Allen (London) with support from Partners Michael Doumet (Paris) and Juanjo Corral (Madrid), Senior Associates Grace Blackburn and Oliver Feslier-Holmes (London) and Associates Kirstie Trup and Patrick Sharkey (London).

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  • Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) – JEFF-4.0 nuclear data library is now available

    Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) – JEFF-4.0 nuclear data library is now available








    Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) – JEFF-4.0 nuclear data library is now available


















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    The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Data Bank has released the latest version of the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) nuclear data library. JEFF-4.0 has been developed by a community of experts over a period of eight years since the release of JEFF-3.3 in 2017.

    The JEFF-4.0 nuclear data library combines the available experimental and theoretical knowledge of nuclear reactions into a standard format nuclear data file that serves a wide user community. JEFF-4.0 is a general-purpose library suitable not only for nuclear fission and fusion applications, but also for domains such as space and earth exploration, medical isotope production and basic science. The development of JEFF-4.0 included a significant improvement over JEFF-3.3 in modelling and simulation performance for light water reactors (e.g. reactivity versus burnup, boron-letdown, power maps, inventories) and a continued improvement for advanced reactor simulations.

    Over the development period, the JEFF project has implemented many changes and updates to the library contents and to the way the data are produced. Highlights include the new evaluations of neutron-induced reactions on the major actinides U-235, U-238 and Pu-239, as well as the thermal neutron-induced fission yield for U-235, U-238, Pu-239 and Pu-241. The thermal scattering sub-library was improved for the key case of hydrogen in water and expanded significantly in co-operation with other initiatives. Decay data was augmented with the most recent outcomes of gamma-ray total absorption measurements. JEFF now provides a proton-induced reaction sub-library that has benefited from a careful review of worldwide evaluated data and an evaluation of activation data. There is a substantial integration of TENDL evaluations in JEFF-4.0 and the charged particle-induced reaction data are adopted from the TENDL project.

    The JEFF-4.0 library was released in June 2025, recently announced at the 16th Nuclear Data for Science and Technology Conference (ND2025), and is now publicly available for download from the NEA Data Bank website.

    The NEA Data Bank has modernised its systems to enhance the support and development of the library, providing a fully reproducible processing and verification process following open science principles. All data is distributed through the new NEA Data Bank data management platform, complete with digital object identifiers (DOIs). The library release will be accompanied by a topical European Physical Journal A article collection presenting the library contents and most relevant benchmarking results.


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  • Renewable energy supply grew by 3.4% in 2024 – News articles

    Renewable energy supply grew by 3.4% in 2024 – News articles

    In 2024, according to preliminary data, the supply of renewable energy in the EU increased by 3.4% compared with 2023, amounting to around 11.3 million terajoules (TJ) in 2024.

    In contrast, the supply of coal continued to decrease. Brown coal supply decreased by 10% to 199 302 thousand tonnes, while hard coal supply dropped by 13.8% to 110 924 thousand tonnes. Both figures are the lowest recorded since the data series began.

    After a sharp drop in the EU’s natural gas supply in 2023, 2024 recorded a very modest increase of 0.3% compared with 2023, reaching a value of 12.8 million TJ.

    In terms of oil and petroleum products, the supply totalled 454 038 thousand tonnes, indicating a 1.2% drop compared with 2023.

    Source datasets: nrg_cb_sff, nrg_cb_gas, nrg_cb_oil, nrg_cb_rw and nrg_ind_pehnf

    This information comes from data on energy production and imports published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on energy production and imports.  

    Renewables made up 47.3% of EU electricity production 

    In 2024, renewable energy was the leading source of electricity in the EU, accounting for 47.3% of all electricity production. Renewables generated 1.31 million Gigawatt-hour (GWh), marking an increase of 7.7% compared with 2023. 

    Conversely, electricity generated from fossil fuels decreased by 7.2% compared with the previous year, contributing 0.81 million GWh, or 29.2% of the total electricity production.

    Nuclear plants produced 0.65 million GWh or 23.4% of the EU electricity production, reflecting a 4.8% increase in production compared with 2023.

    Electricity production in the EU, 1990-2024, GWh. Chart. See link to the full dataset below.

    Source datasets: nrg_ind_pehcf and nrg_ind_pehnf

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  • Prospects for Natural Gas Certification – Analysis

    Prospects for Natural Gas Certification – Analysis

    About this report

    This report offers an overview of the role of certification in natural gas supply chains, provides a broad mapping of existing initiatives, highlights selected regulatory and market developments, identifies areas where improvements may be needed, and presents recommendations to support the development of credible certification frameworks.

    Certified natural gas refers to gas whose environmental and social attributes – such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions performance, water use, local community impacts and worker safety – have been independently verified against defined criteria or benchmarks. In 2024, around 7.5% of global natural gas production was certified, with volumes primarily originating from North America.

    As certification continues to evolve, opportunities remain to improve consistency, transparency and coverage across the full supply chain. To support further progress, the report outlines potential policy actions for governments to consider –such as international collaboration on harmonisation, setting minimum standards for certification, and exploring ways in which certification could complement emerging regulatory and market frameworks.

    While not a standalone solution, certification can enhance transparency and performance on GHG emissions across natural gas supply chains. This can support broader efforts to reduce emissions and strengthen energy security by improving accountability and easing comparability across different supply chains.

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  • Cornwall train station celebrates 100th birthday

    Cornwall train station celebrates 100th birthday

    David Dixon

    BBC News, South West

    Steve Lloyd An old black and white grainy photo of a line of elephants walking down the path from Penmere station Steve Lloyd

    Circus elephants walked from a cargo train towards Falmouth in the 1930s

    A railway station in Cornwall which once had circus elephants walk down its path has celebrated its 100th birthday.

    Residents of Falmouth attended a centenary plaque unveiling on Tuesday at Penmere Station, which is on the line between Truro and Falmouth docks.

    The station was first opened in 1925 and became neglected during the 1970s and 1980s before it was rejuvenated.

    Zara Radford’s grandfather had worked in the ticket office in the 1960s, and said he would have been “very proud” to see it on its 100th birthday.

    Two women stand on the station platform , they have both been presented with a bouquet of flowers.

    Zara Radford and Julia Foyle’s grandfathers both worked at the station

    Julia Foyle, whose grandfather also worked at the station until 1968, said she remembered bringing him pasties for lunch there.

    She said it was “nice to see how loved [the station] is now” and it had “gorgeous vintage signs”.

    Steve Lloyd A black and white picture from the 1950s. A steam train pulls into Penmere station Steve Lloyd

    The station became unmanned in the 1960s

    A volunteer group, the Friends of Penmere Station, has been planting flower beds since the station fell into disrepair after it became unstaffed in the 1960s.

    Since the flowers and greenery were planted, the garden has gone on to win a number of awards for its appearance.

    Steve Lloyd, a founding member of the group, said the station would have originally served dockworkers who lived in the area.

    A man standing in front of a vintage style railway station sign that reads Penmere Platform. He has white hair and wears a green tie

    Steve Lloyd has been gardening and maintaining at the station since 1993

    He added: “During World War Two, there were oil trains that came down overnight and transferred [oil] into tanks next to the station, where it was piped down to fuel up the flying boats that operated from Falmouth harbour.

    “We [also] found a photograph from the 1930s of Bertram Mills Circus.

    “The train pulls into Penmere Station and the picture is of elephants plodding down the footpath from the station towards the circus tent in the centre of town.”

    A minature train covered in greenery and glags, it says Penmere Platform Centenary of Opening 1st July 2025 on it. There is also a sign which says Penmere Platform.

    The garden has won awards for its appearance

    Maureen Bramwell-Hewitt has lived across from the station since 1974 and said she remembered the area before its transformation.

    She said: “It was abysmal, it was an overgrown death trap. People were struggling to get to the platform.

    “Now it’s beautiful. Everyone in community uses it now, students from the university use it and some elderly people come and sit in the gardens because they’re so lovely.”

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  • EIC board calls for quadrupled budget

    The European Innovation Council (EIC) needs a budget at least four times larger under FP10, the EIC board said in a statement on Tuesday. The money would go towards bringing success rates to an “acceptable” level of around 15% in the upcoming research Framework Programme, up from a current level of between 3% and 5%.

    The board’s position paper comes only days after EU research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva told MEPs that the European Commission should at least double – if not triple – the EIC’s budget in a bid to help it finance more projects.

    As the Commission is planning to announce a proposal for the next EU multiannual budget on July 16, EU research and innovation funders are fighting for bigger money pots and more autonomy. 

    The European Research Council (ERC) has also entered the budget race. Last month, in a letter to Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva, the ERC scientific council said that the EU’s fundamental research fund should become independent from the Commission, with a stable long-term budget.

    The EIC, which was launched to help start-ups and SMEs scale up breakthrough technologies and innovations, has a budget of €10 billion out of the nearly €14 billion allocated to the third pillar of Horizon Europe over the 2021-2027 period. This represents less than 15% of the total funding for the Framework Programme for research and innovation.

    According to Zaharieva, her team is working on a proposal to provide the EIC with the appropriate budget.

    In its series of recommendations, the EIC board also said that the EIC’s venture investment arm, the EIC Fund, should expand to provide early-stage investment but also follow-on and growth financing for deep-tech start-ups and SMEs.

    Under the EIC Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform 2025 call, the EIC Fund plans to provide up to €30 million to support rounds above €100 million for the scale-ups. But in the next budget period, which will run from 2028 to 2034, the EIC Fund would require a minimum of €7 billion to provide larger investments to scale up strategic technologies and help close the innovation gap with the United States and China.

    Related articles

    Meanwhile, the proposed Scaleup Europe Fund, which the Commission intends to deploy together with private investors to allow direct equity investments in strategic sectors like artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, is expected to provide “additional firepower to catalyse even larger rounds,” the board said, calling for a budget of €3 to €5 billion to draw in institutional investors, including pension funds and insurance companies.

    The EIC also pointed out that US agencies such as DARPA and other ARPA programmes had a combined annual budget of about $6 billion, which is around four times higher than the EU funding agency. “Matching the US levels of investment in disruptive early-stage innovation only would require at least €5 billion a year,” the board said.

    Other recommendations include adopting a challenge model inspired by the US Advanced Research Projects Agencies, making processes more agile and innovator friendly, building synergies with European, national and regional initiatives and embracing experimentation.

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  • FanDuel Casino’s new creative platform “Calling All Thrillionaires” highlights the thrilling experience of playing on FanDuel Casino.

    FanDuel Casino’s new creative platform “Calling All Thrillionaires” highlights the thrilling experience of playing on FanDuel Casino.

    FanDuel, Flutter’s largest brand and US market leader in online sports betting and iGaming, announced the launch of “Calling All Thrillionaires,” a new creative platform for FanDuel Casino.

    “Calling All Thrillionaires!” aims to elevate and set FanDuel Casino apart from the sea of online casino ads that focus on offers by showcasing the unique experience FanDuel Casino can provide. The campaign comes to life across TV, OLV, paid social and digital, retail, direct mail, radio, and OOH. The first iteration of “Calling All Thrillionaires” highlights the entertainment experience that FanDuel Casino Jackpots provide customers. The new spots will air in key FanDuel Casino markets including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

    “At FanDuel Casino, we believe the real magic lies in the thrill of possibility,” said Daniele Phillips, Vice President of Marketing at FanDuel Casino. “Our newest campaign, “Calling All Thrillionaires,” celebrates the enjoyment of anticipation within our new FanDuel Jackpots experience. The campaign builds upon our key brand values to always provide our players with fun, responsible, and exciting experiences on FanDuel Casino.”

    “Orchard Creative and FanDuel Casino will work together to drive FanDuel Casino’s next phase of ambitious growth,” said Barney Robinson, Chief Executive Officer at Orchard Creative. “Calling All Thrillionaires” is a clarion call to all online casino players. FanDuel Casino understands what really energizes and motivates customers is anticipation. Our new campaign showcases just that.”

    The “Calling All Thrillionaires” campaign will feature two hero spots including Mechanical Bulls and Haunted Home. Mechanical Bulls went live on June 23, clip to this ad is HERE. The second hero spot, “Haunted Home” will launch in September, clip to this ad is HERE.

    For more information on FanDuel Casino, visit https://casino.fanduel.com

    For more information, please contact corporatemedia@flutter.com.

    Sign up to email alerts here.

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  • Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) – New version released: The NEA Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD)

    The NEA has released version 2 of the Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD), following the migration to a collaborative development environment and a standardised dataset format. SINBAD, developed since the early 1990s by the NEA and the US Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC), aims to preserve radiation shielding benchmark experiments for the international community. The SINBAD Task Force, under the NEA Expert Group on Physics of Reactor Systems (EGPRS), now steers its development in collaboration with RSICC.

    The new SINBAD version includes 105 benchmarks for shielding assessments of fission and fusion systems, accelerator shielding and nuclear data evaluations. It represents an internationally recognised resource for validation and verification of radiation transport applications.

    The new SINBAD release is maintained and distributed through the NEA GitLab system provided by the NEA Data Bank, enabling users to give direct feedback and suggest improvements. The SINBAD Task Force manages and evaluates user contributions, following a transparent, version-controlled development process. This development strategy follows successful examples from Open Software development projects, such as the LINUX kernel.

    Organisations from NEA Data Bank member countries can request SINBAD version 2 from the NEA Data Bank, while professionals from non-member countries can request it from RSICC.

    Request SINBAD Version 2 at the NEA Data Bank: SINBAD Version 2, Volumes 1 and 2 (Package NEA-1939).

    Request SINBAD Version 2 at the RSICC: https://rsicc.ornl.gov.

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  • Global Hydrogen Mobility Alliance: Air Liquide joins a strategic partnership in Europe

    Global Hydrogen Mobility Alliance: Air Liquide joins a strategic partnership in Europe

    Air Liquide has joined the newly launched Global Hydrogen Mobility Alliance, a coalition of industry leaders gathering equipment manufacturers, Automotive & Technology suppliers, Energy & Chemicals players. The Alliance is calling for the acceleration of the development of hydrogen mobility to secure Europe’s industrial strength and sustainability. To better understand this initiative, Erwin Penfornis, Vice President of Air Liquide’s Hydrogen Energy business line, answers our questions.

    What does hydrogen mobility offer that electric batteries do not?

    It adds crucial layers of resilience, competitiveness, and system-wide efficiency. Firstly, it requires much less infrastructure investments. Secondly, the full electrification of Europe’s fleet, especially heavy-duty vehicles, would overwhelm grids, so hydrogen storage can help maintain their stability. On top of that, hydrogen can help solve the growing problem of fluctuating renewable power, providing a way to store and use the energy that would otherwise be wasted. Thirdly, hydrogen vehicles provide a range comparable to that of diesel, with fast refueling times (15 minutes for 600+ km range versus 45 minutes for 400 km for battery electric), and lighter weight for increased payload. Thanks to these advantages, hydrogen is crucial for heavy and long-distance transport, which is difficult to decarbonize.

    Why is this technology not broadly adopted yet?

    The technology is ready: it is mature, safe, and reliable. However, for commercial transport operators, whose margins are tight, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)1 is the deciding factor. The current price of hydrogen at the pump needs to be optimized, vehicles are still expensive due to a lack of mass production, and the refueling network needs to get denser. Therefore, it is now urgent to bridge this cost gap.

    How does Europe’s progress compare on the global stage?

    Other regions are moving very quickly and decisively. China, for example, is already the world leader in deployment, with more than 28,000 hydrogen trucks and buses on the roads and hundreds of refueling stations in operation as of this year. They have a stated goal of reaching 1 million vehicles by 2030. This isn’t just about catching up; it’s about Europe leveraging its own strengths to lead in a technology that is vital for our industrial future.

    To create that momentum, the Alliance is calling for a “market activation phase.” What does this involve?

    We are calling for a pragmatic and targeted strategy. At the heart of this approach, we advocate for effective public support for the deployment of refueling infrastructure, drawing inspiration from successful programs like the SWiM initiative in the Netherlands. The principle is to simultaneously develop fleets of trucks and the stations that supply them along key corridors. This method reduces investment risks and offers a concrete pathway to meet European objectives. It must be complemented by other incentives, such as road toll exemptions for zero-emission vehicles.

    This pragmatism also applies to technology: we must be technology-neutral and support both fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen combustion engines to accelerate deployment. Finally, on the supply side, while the goal is 100% decarbonized hydrogen, environmental requirements must be introduced progressively to give the entire ecosystem time to adapt.

    What strategic opportunity does the development of a hydrogen economy represent for Europe today?

    The long-term vision is a competitive and self-sustaining hydrogen mobility market that makes our economy stronger while preserving the environment. At Air Liquide, we are already building toward this future, investing across the entire value chain: from large-scale low-carbon hydrogen production, such as our Normand’Hy electrolyzer, to the distribution infrastructure needed to deliver it to end customers, which is the purpose of TEAL Mobility, our joint venture with TotalEnergies.

    We have a unique opportunity to deliver on Europe’s climate commitments and guarantee its energy safety for the future. This path simultaneously strengthens our industrial competitiveness, creating a powerful synergy for progress. We are ready to join forces with public and private partners to make this vision a reality.

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