Advokatfirmaet Ræder AS, an Oslo, Norway-based law firm with an international practice, advised NexWafe GmbH, a Freiburg-based solar energy company that designs, develops and pilots a proprietary process for producing ultra-thin monocrystalline green solar wafers, on NexWafe’s India Strategic Partnership Agreement with Reliance Industries Limited subsidiary Reliance New Energy Solar Limited (RNESL). The agreement relates to joint technology development and large-scale commercialisation of high efficiency monocrystalline green solar wafers. The partnership is expected to help Reliance secure access to NexWafe’s proprietary technology and use its processes to build large-scale wafer manufacturing facilities in India.
The India Strategic Partnership Agreement was entered into in connection with the induction of RNESL as a strategic lead investor in NexWafe’s €39 million Series C financing round with a phase one investment of €25 million.
Other investors that have joined Reliance in the Series C Round include InnoEnergy, Lynwood, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and other new and returning investors.
Advokatfirmaet Ræder AS’s team was led by Oslo-based partner Carl Garmann Clausen. Reliance and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures were advised by Linklaters and White & Case respectively.
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Lawyer Monthly had the pleasure to speak with Carl Garmann Clausen, Partner at Advokatfirmaet Ræder AS to give us some further insight into this transaction:
Please tell us a little more about your team’s role in the financing round.
Ræder had the pleasure of assisting NexWafe in respect of the negotiation and drafting of the India Strategic Partnership Agreement and the coordination of such agreement with the Investment Agreement for the Series C financing in NexWafe, the latter of which was handled by the well-reputed GOERG law firm from Munich.
How did you handle the challenges presented by the project?
As always in transactions of this kind, it was important to find good commercial and legal solutions that bridged expectations and objectives from counterparties from different jurisdictions. Having a broad international practice, Ræder has substantial experience in handling large and complex cross-border business transactions within technology innovation, development and commercialisation.
What impact do you expect this new partnership to have on NexWafe GmbH?
NexWafe is a hugely exciting company with ground-breaking technology and processes, headed by a very competent, dedicated and visionary management team. The investment by Reliance in NexWafe and the associated strategic partnership agreement will accelerate product and technology development for NexWafe, including the completion of the commercial development of its photovoltaic products and distribution of such products.
