Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, announced a GBP 50 million cornerstone commitment to Epidarex Capital's new life sciences fund on 20 January 2026. The fund, Epidarex Capital IV, LP, went on to announce a first close of USD 145 million on 27 January 2026, with the Bank joined by the Strathclyde Pension Fund, the Scottish National Investment Bank, and other family-office and corporate investors. This is the Bank's second cornerstone commitment to an Epidarex fund, following a GBP 50 million stake in Epidarex Capital III UK, LP in 2020.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, committed up to GBP 50 million as a cornerstone investor in IQ Capital Fund V, announced 20 January 2026. The commitment is operated by British Patient Capital Limited, the Bank's commercial subsidiary, and is the Bank's seventh consecutive cornerstone commitment to an IQ Capital fund since Fund I in 2006. IQ Capital is a UK early-stage deep tech venture capital firm investing across AI & Automation, Computing & Semiconductors, Health & Bio, Advanced Engineering & Energy, and Security & Resilience.

The British Business Bank (BBB), the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, committed GBP 25 million in direct equity to Kraken Technologies, announced 20 January 2026 — the Bank's largest direct investment in a private company to date. Kraken is an AI-driven energy and utilities operating system, licensed to utilities serving over 70 million customer accounts worldwide, and is being spun out of Octopus Energy Group in a transaction that raised c. USD 1 billion from investors including D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity International, Durable Capital Partners and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board's Teachers' Venture Growth, valuing Kraken at USD 8.65 billion. Business Secretary Peter Kyle framed the stake as keeping a strategically important UK-founded scale-up anchored domestically, part of a wider package under the Modern Industrial Strategy.

The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero raised the fixed-bottom offshore wind budget pot for Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 7 (AR7) from GBP 900 million to GBP 1.79 billion ahead of results, nearly doubling the subsidy envelope. On 14 January 2026 DESNZ announced AR7 results securing a record 8.4 GW of offshore wind capacity across eight projects at a clearing strike price of approximately GBP 91/MWh (2024 prices), unlocking an estimated GBP 22 billion in private-sector investment. RWE was the largest winner with 6.9 GW (Norfolk Vanguard East/West, Dogger Bank South, Awel y Môr); SSE secured 1.4 GW via Berwick Bank Phase B at GBP 89.49/MWh.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, committed GBP 34 million (USD 45.7 million) to WestBridge III, a lower-mid-market private equity fund managed by WestBridge, announced 13 January 2026. The commitment helped the fund reach its GBP 225 million hard cap, up from WestBridge II's GBP 102 million final close (which itself included a GBP 15 million BBB commitment in 2017). WestBridge targets high-growth, tech-enabled B2B companies outside London and the South East, typically investing GBP 10-40 million per deal.

On 17-18 December 2025 the Welsh Government published the final guidance and rules booklet for the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) — Universal Layer, the successor to the EU-era Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) for Welsh agriculture. The Universal Layer took effect 1 January 2026 and pays a whole-farm baseline (GBP 70/ha for the first 70 hectares tapering to GBP 2/ha thereafter, plus a GBP 107/ha Social Value Payment, habitat and woodland maintenance payments, and a one-off GBP 1,000 Stability Payment for farms ≤100ha) across roughly 905,545 hectares of declared Welsh farmland. Global Trade Alert records the scheme's Universal Layer tranche at GBP 238 million and classifies it as a financial grant / production subsidy; it carries no explicit foreign-sourcing restriction but, as a domestic whole-farm income-support transfer replacing the former EU BPS, structurally continues UK/devolved agricultural production support post-Brexit.

The UK Department for Business and Trade, alongside HM Treasury, the Prime Minister's Office and the Scotland Office, announced a GBP 125 million support package for INEOS Olefins & Polymers UK's Grangemouth site, comprising a GBP 75 million government-backed loan guarantee and a GBP 50 million grant. The package forms part of a wider GBP 150 million joint investment with INEOS to fund energy-efficiency upgrades, carbon-emission reductions and productivity improvements at the ethylene production facility, protecting around 500 on-site jobs plus supply-chain roles. Funds are restricted to site-improvement uses and the government retains a right to share in future profits.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, took a GBP 10.5 million (USD 13.9 million) equity stake in EpilepsyGTx, a UCL-spinout gene-therapy company, as part of a USD 33 million Series A financing round announced 10 December 2025. The round also included XGEN Venture and an unnamed global biopharmaceutical company; proceeds fund first-in-human Phase 1/2a trials of EpilepsyGTx's lead gene-therapy candidate EPY201 for focal refractory epilepsy.

Innovate UK (part of UKRI) opened the Growth Catalyst - Investor Partnerships Round 2 competition on 10 December 2025, allocating a minimum of £100 million in grant funding to UK-registered SMEs at seed-to-Series-A stage. Grants (60-70% of project costs for feasibility and industrial-research projects; 35-45% for experimental development) must be matched by private investment from an Innovate UK-approved investor partner, ranging from an equal match to double the grant amount depending on project category. Applicants must align with one of the priority sectors named in the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy ("Invest 2035"): advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital and technologies, defence, creative industries, life sciences, or the Battery Innovation Programme. The competition closes 3 February 2026.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, agreed a GBP 75 million (USD 100 million) cornerstone commitment to SV8 Biotech Fund LP, the new flagship multi-stage therapeutics fund managed by SV Health Investors, announced 8 December 2025. It is the Bank's single largest fund commitment to date, taking its cumulative life-sciences fund commitments above GBP 560 million across 15 funds, which the Bank says have collectively leveraged GBP 3.04 billion of private-sector capital.

The UK Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) announced on 3 December 2025 a GBP 10 million grant toward the GBP 20 million "IGNITED" project, led by Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP), to develop an ultra-compact, high-power electric drive system for high-performance EVs drawing on Mercedes' Formula 1 power-unit engineering. UK partners YASA Ltd (axial-flux motor technology) and DePe Gear Company Ltd are involved, with work based in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. The project is expected to create over 150 new jobs and secure 34 existing roles, with production targeted within three years.

KfW IPEX-Bank, the project- and export-finance arm of Germany's state-owned development bank KfW, announced on 28 November 2025 that it structured earmarked, unsecured 19-year corporate financing in the "mid-three-digit-million" British pound range for MVV Energie AG's Medworth thermal waste treatment (energy-from-waste) plant under construction in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England — MVV's fourth UK plant and, at roughly EUR 500 million in total project investment, the largest single investment in MVV's history. Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV) covers the majority of the construction-phase buyer credit for the first time in an MVV financing. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked financial-assistance-in-a- foreign-market intervention (state act 95518 / intervention 151093).

UK Export Finance launched the Critical Goods Export Development Guarantee (Critical Goods EDG), a lending-support scheme that offers an 80% government guarantee on commercial finance for UK-based suppliers of critical minerals to UK exporters. Eligible suppliers must produce at least 50% of their critical-mineral goods for UK exporters (lowered to 20% if the firm also earns at least 5% of turnover from overseas sales), and the mineral must appear on the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre's 2024 criticality assessment or the associated growth-minerals list. The scheme targets commercial lending facilities above £25 million and lets suppliers access the guarantee even if they do not export directly, as long as their output feeds into UK exporters' end products.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care, delivered via Innovate UK, awarded more than GBP 54 million in government funding across eight R&D projects on 18 November 2025 through the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme, matched by more than GBP 20 million from industry (combined GBP 74m+). The programme is funded through the GBP 400 million VPAG Investment Programme, agreed under the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG), and supports the manufacturing pillar of the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy Life Sciences Sector Plan. Funded projects include anaesthetic gas recovery/recycling (targeting ~GBP 5m annual NHS savings), converting spent nuclear fuel into radionuclide cancer therapies, CAR-T cell manufacturing scale-up (Royal Free Hospital), engineered bacteriophages for antibiotic resistance, and an AstraZeneca-led "Sustainable Future Factory" AI/robotics initiative.

The UK government confirmed Wylfa on Anglesey, North Wales as the site for the country's first government-backed small modular reactor (SMR) power station, committing over GBP 2.5 billion (~USD 3.3bn) to the programme via state-owned developer Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N). GBE-N named Rolls-Royce SMR as preferred bidder, with an initial three-reactor deployment (scope for five more) targeting grid connection by the mid-2030s and up to 1.5GW of capacity — enough to power roughly three million homes. Site work is set to begin in 2026, subject to final government approvals and contract signature.

The UK's National Wealth Fund (NWF), the state-owned economic development bank, committed GBP 25 million (USD 32.8 million) of debt financing to Roam, a Denham Capital-backed EV charge-point operator, as part of a GBP 65 million debt-raise announced 12 November 2025 alongside NatWest and Triodos Bank UK. The financing supports Roam's pipeline to deploy 40,000 AC "destination" fast-charging points (workplaces, hotels, residential buildings, retail), up from roughly 3,000 installed at announcement.

The Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB), a public financial institution wholly owned by the Scottish Government, committed GBP 45 million (~USD 59.2 million) as part of a GBP 130 million funding round for Highview Power's 3.2 GWh hybrid long-duration energy storage (LDES) facility at Hunterston, North Ayrshire. Co-investors include Centrica, Goldman Sachs, KIRKBI and Mosaic Capital. Phase one (a grid-stability "island" providing inertia and short-circuit support) is targeted for completion by January 2028, with the full hybrid liquid-air/lithium-ion storage facility operational by 2030. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked equity-stake intervention.

On 19 October 2025 the UK government announced an additional GBP 20 million each for Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, and Glasgow City Region under the GBP 500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF), topping up their original GBP 30 million earmarked allocation (June 2025 Spending Review) to GBP 50 million per region. The three areas were the first cohort to run UKRI's predecessor Innovation Accelerators programme. Funds are channelled through UKRI to local "triple helix" partnerships (civic institutions, business, universities) for innovation-cluster projects in life sciences, advanced manufacturing, AI adoption, and clean-energy/fuel technologies. The announcement preceded the 21 October 2025 Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham.

The UK Department for Business and Trade announced on 15 October 2025 a GBP 15 million grant, administered via the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)'s Collaborative R&D competition under the DRIVE35 programme, toward a GBP 30 million project led by Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) to assess the feasibility of a lightweight L6e-category battery-electric micro-mobility vehicle. The consortium includes lightweight-EV specialist ELM, solar-technology firm Savcor, and the University of Derby, with manufacturing feasibility centred on TMUK's Burnaston site. The vehicle concept features an integrated solar roof, enhanced connectivity, and lightweight recyclable materials.

The UK Office for Life Sciences (OLS) launched the Life Sciences Large Investment Portfolio (LSLIP), a subsidy scheme worth up to GBP 570 million running from implementation in November 2025 to March 2030. The scheme provides direct grants, capped at GBP 130 million per award, to UK-registered private-sector companies committing to invest GBP 250 million or more over three years in domestic manufacturing or commercial R&D across three subsectors: human medicines (APIs and finished products), medical diagnostics, and MedTech. The scheme was referred to the CMA's Subsidy Advice Unit on 21 August 2025, which published its advisory report on 2 October 2025 ahead of the scheme's launch.

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Office for Life Sciences launched the Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment Fund (TRIF) Pilot, a GBP 50 million (approx. USD 67.4 million) capital grant scheme for large-scale R&D projects in the life sciences sector. Only projects with total costs of at least GBP 100 million qualify, with grants typically covering 10-20% of total project costs. The pilot runs on a rolling-application basis until 31 March 2028 or until funding is exhausted.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2025-07-25 (announced 2025-09-24) providing GBP 54 million toward a total co-financed package of GBP 90 million (with a private financial institution) for Sumitomo Electric U.K. Power Cables Ltd. (SEUK-CL), the UK subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (Japan). The facility finances SEUK-CL's manufacturing and sale of submarine transmission cables in Scotland. JBIC framed the loan around the UK's offshore-wind buildout (Scotland targets up to 11 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030) and the UK's position as Europe's largest submarine-cable market, alongside Sumitomo Electric's own Mid-Term Management Plan priority of expanding high-voltage direct-current cable capacity in Europe.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF) announced a commitment of up to £31 million as part of a £35 million equity funding round for Cornish Lithium, with the remaining £4 million from existing investor TechMet. The capital is earmarked to advance the Trelavour Lithium Project toward a construction decision and the Cross Lanes Geothermal Lithium Project toward commercial drilling, both in Cornwall, England. The round is NWF's second equity investment in Cornish Lithium following an initial commitment in August 2023, and is conditional on shareholder approval, UK Takeover Panel sign-off, and clearance under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Innovate UK, co-funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), opened a GBP 7.8 million competition on 15 September 2025 under the Farming Innovation Programme's industry-led R&D Partnerships Fund ("Small R&D Partnership Projects", Round 4). The competition funds collaborative agri-tech R&D projects with total eligible costs of GBP 1-3 million each, aimed at improving productivity, sustainability, resilience and net-zero transition for English farmers, growers and foresters. It is open to UK businesses of any size, provided the collaboration includes at least one SME and no single partner exceeds 70% of eligible costs; the competition closed for applications on 5 November 2025.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF), wholly owned by HM Treasury, committed up to £200 million in equity alongside a matching commitment from US investor EIG as part of a £445 million equity round for Fidra Energy. The capital, together with £594 million in loan facilities from a club of international lenders, financed the roughly £1 billion financial close of the 1,400 MW / 3,100 MWh Thorpe Marsh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Doncaster, England — billed as the UK's largest battery storage project and among the largest in Europe, expected to be operational by mid-2027.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's economic development bank, announced an GBP 8 million equity investment into NRG Therapeutics Ltd on 8 September 2025 as part of an oversubscribed GBP 50 million (USD 67 million) Series B financing round. NRG Therapeutics develops small-molecule mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) inhibitors for neurodegenerative diseases including ALS/MND and Parkinson's. The round was led by SV Health Investors' Dementia Discovery Fund, with participation from M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Criteria Bio Ventures, and existing investors Omega Funds and Brandon Capital; a British Business Bank representative joined NRG's board.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF), wholly owned by HM Treasury, committed up to £200 million as part of a £500 million platform launched with infrastructure manager Equitix and Australian pension fund Aware Super. The platform, operated by Eelpower Energy, will build, own and operate grid-scale battery energy storage (BESS) assets, targeting over 1GW of new UK storage capacity, starting with seed assets already entering construction.

On 13 August 2025 Scottish Enterprise published the Capital Investment Scheme 2025-2035, a GBP 1.8 billion (approx. USD 2.4 billion) discretionary subsidy framework running until 31 December 2035 that funds capital investment grants to businesses of all sizes across all sectors of the Scottish economy, with individual awards capped at GBP 15 million. The scheme operates under the UK Subsidy Control Act 2022 and is awarded on a discretionary, merit-assessed, due-diligence basis rather than as an entitlement.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF), wholly owned by HM Treasury, made a £50 million (c. $66.4m) equity investment in AMP Clean Energy, backing the Asterion Industrial Partners-owned developer's rollout of "Battery Box" micro-scale battery storage sites connected to local distribution networks near demand centres (homes, schools, hospitals) across England, Scotland and Wales. The deal is intended to strengthen local grid flexibility and support industrial decarbonisation, and is explicitly tied to the government's Clean Power 2030 mission.

On 28 July 2025 the Welsh Government published the formal UK subsidy control registration (subsidy reference SC11324) for the Integrated Natural Resources Scheme (INRS), a GBP 10 million grant programme under the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023 that funds collaborative land-management projects by groups of farmers, foresters and land managers. Individual project-delivery grants range from GBP 250,000 to GBP 1,000,000 for activities such as woodland creation, natural flood-risk management, wetland and habitat restoration, and water-quality improvement. The scheme runs 19 December 2024 to 31 March 2028 and is designed to feed into the Collaborative Layer of the wider Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), which replaced the EU-era Basic Payment Scheme.

The UK's National Wealth Fund, the state-owned investment bank, provided GBP 25 million in debt financing to Osprey Charging, one of the UK's largest public EV rapid-charging networks, to accelerate its rollout of super-fast charging hubs. The NWF tranche forms part of Osprey's wider GBP 110 million multi-bank fundraise, alongside Novuna Business Finance, Societe Generale and Aldermore. It was announced on 15 July 2025.

The UK Department for Business and Trade launched DRIVE35 on 13 July 2025, a GBP 2.5 billion decade-long programme of capital and R&D funding for zero-emission-vehicle (ZEV) manufacturing and its supply chain, comprising GBP 2 billion of capital investment through 2030 and a further GBP 500 million in R&D funding through 2035. As part of the launch, the government announced over GBP 300 million in initial support for named automotive projects, including more than GBP 100 million for Astemo Ltd in Bolton for EV component production (over 220 direct jobs) and GBP 15 million for Dana in the West Midlands for EV parts production (over 100 jobs). DRIVE35 is administered via APC-run competitions (Scale-up Fund, Innovation Fund) open to companies across the automotive supply chain from start-ups to global manufacturers.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) issued a EUR 146 million (USD ~170m) Buyer Credit Guarantee to support Orsted's Greater Changhua 2 offshore wind farm off Taiwan (632 MW capacity), co-financed alongside export credit agencies from Denmark, Norway, South Korea and Taiwan and a 25-bank commercial syndicate led by Credit Agricole CIB. The guarantee is conditioned on the project procuring specialised services and components from named UK exporters (Cadeler, CRP Subsea, Ordtek, Cathie), making it a local-value-added-linked export-credit instrument rather than untied project finance.

The UK's National Wealth Fund made a GBP 28.6 million equity investment in Peak Cluster, a CO2-transport pipeline connecting cement and lime producers in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and North West England to the Morecambe Net Zero offshore CO2 store in the Irish Sea. The investment is designed to unlock a further GBP 31 million from private partners Holcim, Tarmac, Breedon, SigmaRoc, Summit Energy Evolution and Progressive Energy, bringing total project equity to GBP 59.6 million. The pipeline is intended to decarbonise around 40% of the UK's cement and lime industry, preventing an estimated 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year and supporting roughly 3,500 jobs (2,000+ existing, ~300 new manufacturing, ~1,200 temporary construction), rising to 13,000 combined with the linked Morecambe Net Zero CO2-storage project.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF), wholly owned by HM Treasury, committed £50 million as part of a wider capital raise for Wessex Internet, a regional full-fibre operator serving rural Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The financing, alongside existing shareholder Aberdeen Investments and an extended Triodos loan, backs Wessex's expansion from roughly 40,000 to 137,000 connected premises and underpins £72 million of BDUK Project Gigabit subsidy contracts already awarded to the company.

On 12 June 2025 the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced approximately GBP 200 million (subject to business case) in development funding for the Acorn carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at St Fergus, Aberdeenshire, and for National Gas's SCO2T Connect pipeline, which repurposes 175 miles of existing gas pipeline plus 35 miles of new-build pipeline to carry CO2 captured at Grangemouth to North Sea storage. The award forms part of a wider GBP 9.4 billion Spending Review 2025 commitment to carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), alongside a parallel award to the Viking CCS project in the Humber. Government cites up to 15,000 jobs at Acorn's peak construction and the safeguarding of an estimated 18,000 existing North Sea jobs.

In the Spending Review 2025 (delivered 11 June 2025), HM Treasury committed "over £2.5 billion" for nuclear fusion, explicitly including support for the UK's STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme to design and build a prototype fusion power plant on the site of the former West Burton A coal power station in Nottinghamshire. The commitment covers the multi-year Spending Review period and is administered through the UK Atomic Energy Authority. STEP construction is expected to begin in the 2030s, with first operations targeted for 2040, and the government cites over 10,000 jobs supported by the programme.

The UK Ministry of Defence announced a £5 billion technology investment package to accelerate domestic defence innovation, split between more than £4 billion (including over £2 billion in new funding) for autonomous systems and nearly £1 billion this Parliament for directed-energy weapons (DEW). The package funds acceleration of the DragonFire high-power laser toward fielding on Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers from 2027, establishment of a new Drone Centre to speed deployment of small uncrewed air systems informed by lessons from Ukraine, and is projected to create 300 skilled jobs on top of 200 already supported by DEW work. The announcement followed the government's Strategic Defence Review published the same day, which recommends UK forces adopt unmanned and autonomous systems at scale over the next five years.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) approved export credit support with a maximum liability of approximately GBP 245 million (USD ~333m) for Cathay Wind Power Co Ltd, borrower for the Greater Changhua 4 (Northwest) offshore wind farm off Taiwan's western coast (42 x 14MW turbines, 583MW grid capacity; project company Greater Changhua Offshore Wind Farm NW Ltd, jointly owned by Orsted Wind Power TW Holdings A/S and Cathay Wind Power Co Ltd). The support covers construction services and equipment, with UK content supplied by Seajacks (installation vessel charter) and CRP Subsea (cabling), making it a local-value-added-linked export-credit instrument rather than untied project finance.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) confirmed support with a maximum liability of approximately GBP 98.5 million (~USD 132m) for Iraq's Five Substations Project, categorised as a Category B (site-specific environmental/social impact) transaction. The guarantee backs a Standard Chartered-arranged facility to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance financing UK Grid Solutions Limited (a GE Vernova subsidiary) to design, supply, construct, install, test and commission five new electrical substations — New Al Rifai, Al Rumaitha, North Kirkuk, Al Khalidiya South and Al Sawada — as part of Iraq's Ministry of Electricity national grid development plan.

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology signed a grant agreement with BioNTech UK Ltd. providing up to GBP 129 million in government support over 10 years, underpinning BioNTech's planned GBP 1 billion (USD 1.3 billion) investment in UK research and development over the same period. The funding backs two new R&D hubs: a life-sciences research centre in Cambridge (genomics, oncology, structural biology, regenerative medicine) and an AI hub co-located with BioNTech's planned UK headquarters in London, run by its InstaDeep subsidiary. The government frames the deal as one of the largest single-company investments in UK life-sciences history and part of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor and Plan for Change industrial strategy.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF) and UK Export Finance (UKEF), both wholly government-owned, jointly provided financial guarantees covering £272 million each (80% coverage of a £340 million loan facility) to unlock £680 million in commercial-bank financing for AESC's second battery gigafactory ("Plant 2") in Sunderland. The UK's Automotive Transformation Fund separately contributed £150 million in grants. Total investment mobilised exceeds £1 billion. The plant will add 15.8GWh of annual battery-cell capacity, supporting production of up to 100,000 electric vehicles per year and creating over 1,000 direct jobs in North East England.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF) provided a £600 million loan to ScottishPower (a subsidiary of Spain's Iberdrola) as part of a wider £1.35 billion financing package arranged by Bank of America and a syndicate of commercial banks. The financing accelerates capital deployment for seven of ScottishPower's priority transmission-network upgrade projects, including the Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) subsea interconnector and substation/overhead-line reinforcement work at five locations across Scotland. The projects aim to reduce grid congestion, connect more renewable generation, and lower system costs for consumers.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) disclosed a Category B environmental review for a buyer-side financing facility with a maximum liability of approximately GBP 573 million (~USD 768m) supporting Angola's Ministry of Finance in procuring critical infrastructure rehabilitation across Benguela province. The facility, arranged by Standard Chartered Bank, finances a contract between Angola's Ministry of Public Works and Spatial Planning and UK exporter Innovo Projects Limited covering 22 sub-projects: water supply, drainage and flood-risk management, road rehabilitation and pedestrian crossings, restoration of historic buildings, and community facilities including marketplaces and beachfront areas.