Clifford Chance advises Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SAE in relation to a majority investment into a UK-based company engaged in the development of pyrolysis projects in the UK

Global law firm Clifford Chance advised Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SAE, an investment holding company operating across MENA, in relation to a majority investment into a UK-based company engaged in developing a plastic to pyrolysis oil project in the UK, with potential for further expansion across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Pyrolysis is a developing waste-to-energy technology which converts waste plastics to pyrolysis oil via thermal degradation. The pyrolysis oil produced can be used as a sustainable, high value, naphtha substitute. Pyrolysis thereby reduces the amount of waste plastics that would otherwise be sent to landfill, while also facilitating a reduction in fossil fuel usage in petrochemical feedstocks and road transport fuels, in alignment with global recycling and emissions reduction goals.  

The project represents the development of one of the first-of-its-kind waste plastic pyrolysis plants in the UK and involved the careful consideration of critical issues associated with this emerging technology.  Clifford Chance advised Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SAE on all aspects of the investment documentation and shareholder arrangements, in addition to feedstock, offtake, land, construction, employment and other operational arrangements. The investment reflects EKH’s publicly stated strategy to expand sustainable, circular-economy solutions across its portfolio and advance its clean energy agenda.

The deal team advising Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SAE was led by Energy and Infrastructure partners Bryony Theaker and John Wilkins, with support from senior associates Neha Siddiqui and Will Martin, and associates Samantha Goh and Miguel Domingo. The cross-practice team also includes Construction partner Sandy John Hall and director Irina Steinberg, Real Estate partner Ian Painter, and lawyer Isabelle Booth. The Intellectual Property team includes partner Vanessa Marsland, and senior associate Sean Wood, and from Employment and Incentives partners Chinwe Odimba-Chapman and Andrew Patterson, and director Florence Wong.

This transaction continues Clifford Chance's longstanding work in this developing area, including advising Iqony on the sale of Iqony Waste to Energy to Danpower earlier this year.