Osborne Clarke advises Via Novus on £35M Cube investment into Engenie

The deal enables Engenie to double the number of EV charging points across the UK

International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised Via Novus on a £35 million Cube investment into Engenie, one of the UK’s fastest growing electric vehicle (EV) rapid charging networks.

The investment by Cube is being made into Engenie through Via Novus Limited, an investment platform founded at the end of 2017 by Maurice Hochschild, previously Head of Power and Infrastructure Finance at Investec Bank plc. Together with Investec Bank, Via Novus’ role is to finance, develop and own public, rapid chargers for EVs. Via Novus acquired a holding in Engenie alongside Investec in early 2018, with the aim of helping Engenie achieve its aim of building a UK wide network of charging points.

The investment backs Engenie's vision of building thousands of open-access, renewably-powered rapid EV chargers, doubling the current number of rapid charge points in the UK by 2024. The investment will also see Engenie become the UK’s best funded independent EV charging network.

With the investment Engenie will install over 2,000 rapid charging points across the UK, which will be on accessible public sites, including supermarkets and retail parks, enabling EV drivers to charge quickly and easily at convenient and attractive locations.

Andrew Nosworthy, Power & Infrastructure, Investec said: "The Osborne Clarke team helped us navigate the legal complexities of the transaction, working collaboratively with the other advisors to deliver the deal."

The Osborne Clarke team was led by Partner David Ferris who was assisted by Associate Director Mike Freer, Associate Director Vicky Dudding, Senior Associate Ed Nisbet and Partner Simon Spooner (all corporate). Partner Michael Carter and Senior Associate Rhiannon Jones advised on incentives.

This is the third transaction Osborne Clarke's market-leading international energy innovation team has recently advised on, which also included advising the shareholders of Limejump on its acquisition by Shell in February and Statera Energy on its strategic 15-year partnership with Statkraft in June.

Osborne Clarke has an established and well-respected position as one of the leading law firms advising on energy and utilities projects. For over 20 years, it has helped clients to seize new opportunities and meet the challenges of making energy generation clean, affordable and secure. The combination of the team’s experience and understanding of the energy sector means they are regularly called upon to support businesses on all aspects of their commercial, regulatory, corporate, finance and construction legal needs.

In addition to their energy and utilities experience, the team has extensive expertise in electric vehicles with an in-depth knowledge of supporting energy systems and smart infrastructure solutions.