Category: 3. Business

News release from Vestas Northen and Central Europe
Hamburg, 11 December 2025

Vestas is proud to announce the following orders as part of our Q4 order intake:

For more information, please contact:
Yannick Kramm
External Communications Specialist, Vestas Northern & Central Europe 
Mail: yankr@vestas.com
Tel: +44 (0)77 9528 4694

About Vestas
Vestas is the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions. We design, manufacture, install, and service onshore and offshore wind turbines across the globe, and with more than 197 GW of wind turbines in 88 countries, we have installed more wind power than anyone else. Through our industry-leading smart data capabilities and unparalleled more than 159 GW of wind turbines under service, we use data to interpret, forecast, and exploit wind resources and deliver best-in-class wind power solutions. Together with our customers, Vestas’ more than 37,000 employees are bringing the world sustainable energy solutions to power a bright future.

For updated Vestas photographs and videos, please visit our media images page on: https://www.vestas.com/en/media/images.

We invite you to learn more about Vestas by visiting our website at www.vestas.com and following us on our social media channels:

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is proud to announce that London Assets and Structured Finance Partner Kavita Shah has been recognised among Lloyd’s List’s Top 10 Maritime Lawyers of 2025.

Kavita is honoured for her expertise in maritime asset finance—particularly creditor representation—and her advisory work on portfolio acquisitions, refinancings, and credit facilities.

Lloyd’s List is one of the world’s oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London from as early as 1734. Its annual Top 10 Maritime Lawyers list spans private practice solicitors, in-house counsel and barristers worldwide.

WFW Global Maritime Sector Head George Macheras commented: “We’re thrilled to see Kavita named as one of Lloyd’s List’s Top 10 Maritime Lawyers of 2025. WFW has had a strong presence on this list over the years, reflecting the firm’s deep expertise in the maritime sector across all key service lines”.

Kavita added: “It’s an honour to be recognised by Lloyd’s List as one of their top maritime lawyers globally. Since joining WFW, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside colleagues previously featured on this list, which has helped me develop the skills and expertise to earn this accolade myself”.

M&A activity within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman) defied the global trend in 2025 as both deal value and deal transaction count to December 1 were higher than the totals for 2024 (USD72.7 billion over 554 transactions, up 170% and 2.6% respectively).

The UAE (USD60.4bn) and Saudi Arabia (USD8bn) were the two biggest markets, with both recording higher deal value in Q4 2025 compared with the previous quarter.

Some of the biggest transactions were inbound acquisitions in the energy and infrastructure sectors, including Aramco’s USD11bn lease and leaseback of its Jafurah gas processing business to a consortium of investors led by Global Infrastructure Partners. The region’s financial services sector has also seen number of in-market mergers, including Gulf Bank and Warba Bank (Kuwait), and other ongoing transactions across countries in the GCC.

Outbound M&A follows national objectives

Outbound M&A activity was high, with Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds among the world’s most active cross-border investors. Their deals are driven by national governments’ desire to transition their economies away from fossil fuels, execute their policy objectives (for example by using acquisitions to scale domestic or regional champions, or consolidate companies in strategic sectors); strengthen ties with international allies; boost their soft power; and/or invest in the industries of the future.

SWFs pursue control positions

As their influence grows, SWFs are taking more control positions over minority stakes or passive investments. We are also seeing a marked uptick in international private equity and private credit funds investing in the region. These transactions often have a dual purpose, with the largest private capital firms increasingly looking to the Middle East for capital including anchor investments from SWFs.

The highest-profile SWF transaction of 2025 was the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) USD55bn acquisition of videogame developer Electronic Arts alongside Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the investment company founded by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law.

U.S. policy shifts and access to technology

Since entering office, the Trump administration has sought to partner with governments in the region on a range of initiatives, from real estate projects to M&A transactions.

These deals have given Middle Eastern governments access to U.S. technologies such as AI and semiconductors in exchange for investments into “America First” priority sectors including data centers, energy, and manufacturing. Recent sales of advanced U.S. chips to the Middle East are the result of a significant policy shift in Washington. The U.S government has rescinded the Biden government’s AI Diffusion Rule, under which licensing requirements were imposed on technology transactions with a broad swathe of countries.

In November Saudi Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) visited the White House, where President Trump agreed to sell F35 fighter jets and tanks to the kingdom. MBS also pledged an additional USD400bn of investment into American technology and infrastructure, on top of the USD600bn promised earlier in the year. The two leaders also signed a nuclear energy partnership, critical minerals framework, and AI memorandum of understanding. In May, President Trump signed similar deals with the UAE and Qatar. 

Governments use strategic neutrality as technological hedge

While relations with the U.S. have grown closer under President Trump, Middle Eastern governments are also leveraging their strategic neutrality to pursue M&A opportunities in the PRC (including through co-investments between regional SWFs and Asia-Pacific asset managers).

China has been building relationships across the Middle East for many years, and as early as 2020 had replaced the European Union as the GCC’s largest trading partner. China’s investments into the region span infrastructure (through its Belt and Road initiative and financial cooperation arrangements), while its Digital Silk Road program—as well as its national champions—have led the charge in the tech space. 

Elsewhere, investment flows with India and Africa are strong, especially in sectors such as energy and minerals. India in particular has close social ties with the region thanks to the significant movement of human capital across the Arabian Sea.

Toulouse, France – 11 December 2025 – Airbus in partnership with Air France, Delta Air Lines, French bee, and Virgin Atlantic, and operations partners, AirNav Ireland, DSNA, EUROCONTROL and NATS, has successfully completed a new phase of trials for Airbus’ fello’fly project.

Fello’fly takes inspiration from migrating geese and showcases the power of collaboration by pairing flights to reduce fuel consumption. With this flying technique, the first aircraft creates an uplift that drives fuel efficiency for the following aircraft, called ‘wake energy retrieval’. Once operational, wake energy retrieval has the potential to make fuel savings of up to 5% on long-haul flights.

These trials, eight flights over the North Atlantic Ocean between September and October 2025, conducted in the frame of the SESAR Joint Undertaking GEESE project, aimed to show that the operational concept is a feasible and safe method to guide two aircraft to meet at a precise time and place (rendezvous process), while maintaining full vertical separation and remaining compliant with air traffic regulations. While the actual wake energy retrieval flights have not been tested yet on commercial flights, the successful completion of the rendezvous process is a crucial first step toward future efficiency gains. 

Each trial required close coordination between the two airlines’ ground operational control centers, four air traffic control centers, and two flight crews. The active participation of AirNav Ireland, Air France, Delta Air Lines, DSNA, EUROCONTROL Network Manager, French bee, NATS, and Virgin Atlantic, using the EUROCONTROL Innovation hub interface, was key to proving the concept’s safety and practicality in real-world conditions.

Note to editors

• Launched in 2019, fello’fly is a project inspired by nature (biomimicry). In 2023, the GEESE project, funded by SESAR’s Digital European Sky programme, was launched to support collaboration and testing in air traffic management. Additional project partners include Bulatsa, Indra, ENAC, CIRA, Boeing, Frequentis, UAB, Oro Navigacija, DLR, UCLouvain, and WaPT. Click here for more information about fello’fly and GEESE projects.
• In 2025, the completed trials successfully validated a rigorous four-step process designed to manage the high-precision maneuvers required.
  • This process begins when the Airbus Pairing Assistance Tool (PAT) computes the new aircraft trajectories and shared rendezvous instructions in real-time.
  • Next, the airlines’ dispatcher, flight crew, and Air Traffic Control (ATC) assess the new trajectories to ensure operational acceptability. The EUROCONTROL Innovation Hub interface allows all stakeholders to have visibility of the decision status at any given moment.
  • The third step involves one of the participating flights changing its planned route to join the other.
  • Finally, both flight crews activate a cockpit function, committing the aircraft to arrive at the meeting point at an exact, predetermined time.

In the third quarter of 2025, 49.3% of net electricity generated in the EU came from renewable energy sources, an increase of 3.8% compared with the 47.5% registered in the same quarter of 2024. 

Among EU countries, in the third quarter of 2025, Denmark, with 95.9%, had the highest share of renewables in net electricity generated, followed by Austria (93.3%) and Estonia (85.6%). The lowest shares of renewables were recorded in Malta (16.6%), Czechia (19.7%) and Slovakia (21.1%). 

Source dataset: nrg_cb_pem

In 21 EU countries, the share of renewable energy sources in net electricity generation increased in the third quarter of 2025. The largest year-on-year increases were recorded in Estonia (+20.6 percentage points (pp)), Latvia (+18.9 pp) and Austria (+16.3 pp). 

Most of the electricity generated from renewable sources came from solar (38.3%), wind (30.7%) and hydro (23.3%), followed by combustible renewable fuels (7.2%) and geothermal energy (0.5%).

Source dataset: nrg_cb_pem

Plus, degraded and poorly managed ocean ecosystems have altered the marine biophony. With the loss of kelp forests and coral reefs, melting glaciers, overfishing and underwater mining, essential habitats for sea life are stripped away – reducing the abundance of noise-producing animals.

AIMS/ Daneil Estcourt

According to Simpson, the sounds of today’s ocean are very different from those of preindustrial times. “The ocean soundscape used to be made up of the biophony – the animal sounds – and the geophony – the sounds of the Earth, rain, wind and currents. But now it’s the anthrophony as well, for example the sound of motorboats on coral reefs.” 

Anthropogenic ocean noise – for example, from vessels or construction – can mask animal noises, preventing them from communicating with one another, just as it would above the surface. “It’s like being in a bar,” explains Parsons. “If there’s no one else in the bar, you can probably hear your friend. But if the bar is full of people, the distance over which you can hear each other is a lot smaller,” he says.

It’s not just the frequency or intensity of the noise, it’s also the unpredictability of the sound’s source that can be disruptive. “If we live in a city, we’re not surprised by traffic noise, but if you live in the ocean and a boat suddenly drives over the top of you, you wouldn’t be expecting it,” says Simpson.

The value of ecommerce sales for beverage alcohol declined for the third successive year in 2024, but the channel is showing clear signs of resilience, with a return to modest growth predicted in the years ahead.

According to IWSR’s Ecommerce Strategic Study 2025, which covers more than 85% of global ecommerce value[1], the channel recorded a smaller decline in 2024, with value down by -1%, largely thanks to declines in China and the US, in turn caused by lower total alcohol sales brought on by macroeconomic weakness and uncertainty.

Those losses in China and the US were the main drivers of the channel’s underperformance in 2024, leading to a revision of IWSR forecasts for the years ahead. However, ecommerce’s share of total beverage alcohol (TBA) value held steady at 3.5%, a level that IWSR predicts will be maintained in 2025, before growth returns, rising to a 3.8% share figure in 2029.

The relative stability recorded in 2024 follows a rollercoaster period for online alcohol sales, from rapid growth during the Covid-19 pandemic (2019-21 value CAGR of +35%), to a subsequent correction (2022-23 value CAGR -5%), and then last year’s smaller decline. For the 2024-29 period, IWSR is forecasting CAGR value growth of +3%.

“After two years of correction as channel dynamics normalised in the wake of the pandemic, ecommerce alcohol sales have stabilised and are set to return to modest growth over the forecast period,” says Guy Wolfe, head of ecommerce insights. “Our consumer research suggests that online usage dipped again in 2025, but to a lesser extent than the physical off-trade, indicating greater resilience of the digital channel.

“Frequency of use remains stable in most markets – although China is an exception – while volume and total basket spend still skew significantly higher in ecommerce than offline. As such, online growth is still expected to outperform the wider market, gaining modest share of total alcohol and the off-trade in the coming years.”

Established markets spearhead growth

China, Brazil and the US are expected to account for more than half of total online alcohol value growth between 2024 and 2029 – a reflection of consumer attitudes to ecommerce adoption and use, which are most positive in markets where online is already more mature.

ERM, the world’s largest specialist sustainability consultancy, has announced it is establishing a new office in Abu Dhabi’s international financial centre, ADGM. This builds on ERM’s long-term presence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and represents the next step of the firm’s growth in the Middle East.

ADGM is committed to nurturing growth, innovation and an active business community that supports local and regional economic diversification. Being part of this dynamic financial and business ecosystem will strengthen ERM’s ability to partner with clients across the UAE and broader region to advance the energy transition and accelerate diversification.

ERM brings global insights alongside deep technical expertise to the UAE and regional markets, supporting clients across high-growth sectors including energy, metals and mining, technology, and manufacturing as they integrate sustainability into their business operations, transactions, and investment decisions.

Peter Rawlings, Managing Partner for the Middle East at ERM said: “ERM has a 20-year history in the UAE, and we look forward to building on this presence through ADGM.

“Its position as a key financial hub makes it the ideal base for ERM, as businesses within ADGM’s ecosystem and the broader Gulf region seek our sustainability expertise in critical areas including project finance, M&A, and outbound sovereign investment. Joining this vibrant business community provides ERM with more opportunities to help clients across industries in the region embed sustainability into their decision-making to mitigate risk and drive value creation.”

Global investment firm KKR has owned a majority stake in ERM since 2021. “ERM’s expansion in the Middle East comes at an important time for businesses across the Gulf, as the need for high-quality sustainability expertise continues to grow,” said Rami Bibi, Managing Director and Head of Europe for KKR Global Impact.

“With a global track record of supporting companies through complex sustainability and transition challenges, ERM is well positioned to help organizations across the region strengthen resilience, manage risk, and capture new opportunities. Deepening their presence in the Middle East will further enable close collaboration with clients and partners across the Gulf.”

Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief Market Development Officer at ADGM, said: “We are delighted to welcome ERM to ADGM as it expands its presence in the Middle East. At a time when the UAE is accelerating its sustainability and energy-transition agenda, ERM’s global expertise and technical capabilities will be a valuable addition to our vibrant international business community. Their decision to establish a presence within ADGM further underscores the strength of our ecosystem and our commitment to enabling companies that are shaping the future of sustainable finance, responsible investment, and long-term economic growth.”

For more on our UAE services, click here.

About ERM

Sustainability is our business.

As the world’s largest specialist sustainability consultancy, ERM partners with clients to operationalize sustainability at pace and scale, deploying a unique combination of strategic transformation and technical delivery capabilities. This approach helps clients to accelerate the integration of sustainability at every level of their business.

With more than 50 years of experience, ERM’s diverse team of 8000+ experts in 40 countries and territories helps clients create innovative solutions to their sustainability challenges, unlocking commercial opportunities that meet the needs of today while preserving opportunity for future generations.  Learn more here.