International law firm Simmons & Simmons has provided comprehensive legal support for the establishment and structuring of the new investment and implementation platform, e-KommUnity.
The new platform creates, for the first time, a systematic and standardised access route to private equity for municipal utilities in Germany - an approach urgently needed in light of the multi-billion-euro investment requirements of the energy transition.
With the goal of becoming operational in January 2026, e-KommUnity aims to provide municipal utilities with access to long-term, reliable equity capital from insurers, pension funds and other institutional investors. The model addresses central obstacles that have previously hindered cooperation between public service providers and private capital.
The lead Simmons partners supporting KommUnity were Dr Thorsten M. Volz, Partner in the firm's Energy & Infrastructure practice, and Daniel Lühmann, Partner specialising in Asset Management & Investment Funds. The two partners are deeply experienced at advising at the intersection of energy infrastructure, regulation and investor models.
"Through standardisation and an appropriate distribution of risk, e-KommUnity creates investable projects even in essential public infrastructure, while generating returns for investors that are commensurate with the risk," explains Dr Thorsten Volz. "This structure creates planning certainty - for municipal utilities as well as for investors."
"For the energy transition to succeed, municipalities need realistic financing pathways and manageable processes. e-KommUnity delivers exactly that," says Daniel Lühmann. "Our focus was on developing a model that works at scale and has the potential to reshape the market."
Simmons & Simmons will continue to support the platform's further development from a legal perspective and sees the model as a pioneering blueprint for scalable and resilient investment structures for the energy transition.
