Committed Capital — Global Private Equity Insights

Private equity firms are sitting on near record levels of dry powder, along with a large backlog of investments awaiting an exit and increased fundraising activities. Assuming no macroeconomic or geopolitical headwinds, the PE industry’s investment cycle is poised to accelerate.

Hosted by members of Dechert’s Private Equity practice and recognized by Law.com International among the most forward-thinking podcasts in Big Law, Committed Capital explores current issues and trends affecting PE globally, featuring conversations with leaders from across the industry.

Dechert has advised private equity and other alternative asset managers for 40 years on capital solutions at every phase of the investment life cycle. We form funds, negotiate investments, advise on transactions and financings that maximize value, and structure an execute exits accomplished at the right time to deliver the best returns. With lawyers in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, our interdisciplinary global team has the reach, resources and expertise to advise our clients wherever they do business.

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Latest Episode:

Sidecar: The EU’s Industrial Accelerator Act

March 25, 2026 — In this Sidecar, Dechert partners Jarlath Pratt, Clemens York and Mike Okkonen break down the European Commission's proposed Industrial Accelerator Act and its implications for foreign direct investment in the EU's emerging strategic sectors, including batteries, solar, EVs, and critical raw materials. The draft IAA proposes a mandatory pre-closing notification regime with strict conditions, including ownership caps, joint venture requirements and technology transfer obligations, targeting investors from countries controlling more than 40% of global manufacturing capacity in the relevant sectors. Non-EU investors caught by the proposed new regime are well-advised to monitor related developments and to start considering partnerships with EU investors ahead of the legislation being finalized.

Key Takeaways:

The EU has historically been one of the world's most open investment destinations, but the proposed IAA — openly framed as industrial policy — is expected to significantly reshape the EU’s investment screening landscape. In the future, the question will not only be whether an investment poses a security risk, but whether it delivers sufficient economic value to Europe, representing a fundamental paradigm shift.

The six conditions that have been proposed include a hard 49% ownership cap, a mandatory joint venture requirement with a European partner, technology transfer obligations extending to operational know-how and manufacturing processes, a local R&D spend requirement of 1% of gross annual revenues, a workforce requirement that at least 50% of employees are European nationals and a local content obligation that 30% of inputs must be manufactured in the EU.

The 40% manufacturing capacity threshold is understood to have been introduced mainly to capture investments from China in light of China’s strength in key areas such as batteries, solar panels, EVs and critical minerals processing.

The regime creates a mandatory pre-closing notification regime, and completion in breach of the standstill obligation would attract a penalty of at least 5% of the investor group's average daily global revenues.

For a significant deal in one of the covered sectors, investors could be managing four parallel regulatory processes: the IAA, national FDI screening, national/EU merger control and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, with different authorities, different timelines and different conditions.