Financial Translation in Liège: ArcelorMittal, John Cockerill and Walloon Finance

Liege is in full economic transformation: industrial reconversion financed by the European ERDF funds, the emergence of an air-freight economy around Liege Airport and the dynamism of the Walloon financing bodies such as the SRIW and Sowalfin. Financial translation in Liege is at the heart of these transformations, linking the multilingual reporting needs of the major industrial groups to the documentary requirements of the European funds and Walloon venture capital.

Liege and its financial fabric in transformation: specific translation needs

ArcelorMittal, whose Liege sites represent one of the most important European steelmaking complexes, produces consolidated financial reports in English compliant with IFRS standards, intended for the institutional investors and the analysts of the Luxembourg bond markets. John Cockerill, whose activities now cover green hydrogen, nuclear power and defence on every continent, drafts its project financing memoranda in English and French, with adaptations in Arabic for its Middle East contracts. AGC Glass Europe, whose headquarters are in Brussels but whose Liege production is strategic, submits its financial performance reports to the Japanese group AGC Inc. in English and Japanese. Each of these players generates significant volumes of multilingual financial documentation.

Walloon financing is structurally linked to Liege: the SRIW (Societe Regionale d'Investissement de Wallonie) and its subsidiaries invest in Walloon companies via equity stakes, subordinated loans and hybrid instruments whose contracts must often be translated for foreign co-investors. Sambrinvest, the Walloon venture capital fund based in Liege, supports start-ups and university spin-offs whose funding rounds involve term sheets and shareholder agreements in English. Sowalfin, manager of the guarantee system for Walloon SMEs, issues guarantee documents used in banking structures that may require translation for foreign financial partners.

Liege Airport (Bierset) is one of the five main cargo airports in Europe, the European base of DHL, TNT and ASL Airlines. The airport company LAL issues bonds to finance its infrastructure and its terminals, documents intended for foreign institutional investors. The air-freight contracts, the concession contracts and the infrastructure financing agreements concluded with Asian or American logistics partners require financial translations of high precision.

Most frequently translated financial documents in Liege

• IFRS reports and consolidated financial statements: produced by ArcelorMittal, John Cockerill and AGC Glass for their respective international groups, requiring an EN/FR or EN/NL translation depending on the regulatory destination.
• ERDF and Horizon Europe financing files: interim and final financial reports intended for the European Commission, expenditure supporting documents, subsidy audits and reliability declarations for the Liege industrial reconversion projects.
• Infrastructure project financing memoranda: documents relating to the bonds issued by Liege Airport or to the project finance structures for the industrial investments linked to the Walloon energy transition plan.
• Term sheets and shareholder agreements for venture capital: documents in English produced during the funding rounds of the ULiege spin-offs, translated into French for the Walloon co-investors or into Dutch for the Flemish funds.
• Sowalfin and SRIW financing contracts: guarantee agreements, subordinated loan contracts and shareholders' agreements for the Walloon companies with partners or subsidiaries abroad.
• ESG performance reports: documents produced by the major Liege industrial groups for their investors, subject to the requirements of the CSRD directive and translated into English or German.

Regulatory requirements and financial standards in Liege

The Walloon companies that benefit from public financing via the SRIW, Sowalfin or the ERDF funds are subject to strict financial reporting obligations towards their financiers. The interim and final reports intended for the European Commission must comply with the models imposed by the Horizon Europe programmes or the structural funds, which require rigorous terminological consistency in English. The slightest inconsistency between the initial budget and the expenditure supporting documents can lead to a refusal of reimbursement, or even to a recovery of the funds paid. The Liege universities and research centres, very active in the European consortia, therefore call on specialised translators to secure their financial reports.

For industrial companies that are listed or issuing debt instruments, the financial transparency obligations in Belgium are governed by the FSMA and the NBB. The Walloon companies filing their annual accounts in French may need translations into Dutch if they have Flemish subsidiaries, or into English if they operate in an international context. The expertise reports required in the due diligence procedures for industrial acquisitions in Wallonia, an active market notably in the steel, chemicals and logistics sectors, require certified translations for the foreign buyers.

Turnaround times and rates