Amsterdam / Zürich, 3 September 2014 – Global solar powersolutions provider Photon Energy today launched its subsidiary„Global Investment Protection“ (GIP) to provide effectiveprotection tools to Renewable Energy investors. Based inSwitzerland, GIP provides investors with services rangingfrom strategy formulation and structuring to providing thestrongest possible investment protection in the light of spreadinggovernmental measures leading towards expropriation. GIP‘s initialkey markets are Italy, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria in relationto retroactive measures against solar investors.
Global Investment Protection AG offers investors effectivesolutions to defend themselves against destructive governmentmeasures, which are spreading fast across Europe.
These range from the forced renationalisation of health care andpension systems in Slovakia and Poland to retroactive tax measuresby Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and other EU membercountries against the photovoltaic (PV) industry.
GIP's initial key markets are Italy, the Czech Republic andBulgaria. In the long-term GIP intends to provide its services toany investors in sectors facing the danger of unreasonablegovernmental measures leading towards expropriation. While startingout from the PV industry, GIP also intends to work with investorsfrom other industries also outside the EU in the future, aseffective investment protection is a fundamental question for allinternationally active industrial, financial and private investorsin today’s volatile world. Excessive taxation and outrightexpropriation in natural resource-based and licensed industrieslike banks, insurances, telecommunications and electricityutilities in several EU member states exemplified by the case ofHungary prove that PV investors are not an exception.
In 2010 Photon Energy experienced firsthand the implementationof devastating retroactive measures by the Czech government, ofwhich a 26% tax on PV plant revenues was only the tip of theiceberg. “Given our experience we saw an urgent need to shareour expertise in the legal defence against government measureswhich clearly violate legitimate expectations of investors in ourindustry and investment protection in general,“explains Georg Hotar, CEO of Photon Energy NV andManaging Director of Global Investment Protection AG.“With investment-destroying measures spreading like cancer, wedetect a growing unease among investors and project lendersglobally. Something needs to be done and we have developed conceptsenabling investors to defend themselves effectively, if they putthe right structure in place ahead of time. The time to act is nowand prudent investors must react with the utmost urgency“,Hotar warns.
The recent wave of retroactive regulatory and tax measuresagainst Renewable Energy investments coincides with a massiveeffort by the EU Commission to dismantle investor protection in theEU. Until now this has been guaranteed by Bilateral InvestmentTreaties (BITs) and the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). However, thewriting is on the wall that the EU is hell-bent on allowing itsmember states to hurt industrial, financial and private investorsthrough unfair, inequitable and retroactive measures withimpunity.
For more information please visit www.globalinvestmentprotection.com orcontact info@globalinvestmentprotection.com
MEDIA CONTACT
Jan Krcmar
T +420 773 032 182
E jan.krcmar@photonenergy.com
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