Ashley White was recently interviewed by Lexpert and quoted in their article, "Energy M&A enters a new era as scale, security, and infrastructure reshape Canada's market." The article examines the regulatory and industry trends driving energy transactions, and what this means in the long term for Canada's evolving economy.
Artificial intelligence and data centre development continue to be a driving force behind the increased activity in Canada's energy sector. Ashley highlights how data centres are also changing the calculus on investor opportunities in natural gas as well as ancillary sectors. As power requirements increase, utilities, transmission infrastructure and energy storage also need to grow in hand to support the delivery of reliable electricity to data centres.
She also adds that the nature of these projects has created a more complex transaction environment, with more dealmakers paying closer attention to how regulatory developments intersect with broader commercial decisions earlier in the deal timeline. She comments, "It is not just about the M&A risk. It is also about the longer-term project development risks—timing, cost overruns and execution." Additionally, more project stakeholders are focusing on Indigenous equity participation to support both project develop and long-term partnerships.
Readers can find the full story on Lexpert here.
