My understanding of the Fuel Cell Systems venture has always been an industrial scale generator capable of providing electricity for up to 200 households, so its not a laptop battery or CH boiler replacement being discussed.
I can see positives and negatives in the tea leaves of this deal with the most obvious positive aspect being that LG probably brings something to the party and possibly an avenue to its commercial viability.
The technology was always Rolls-Royce's, but the fuel cell systems project, started in 2005, was itself a joint venture between Rolls-Royce and Singapore consortium Enertek (comprising EDB Investments, Temasek Holdings and Temasek subsidiary Accuron Technologies), and has been ongoing with a view to reaching commercial production but hit a hitch in 2010 which effectively put it back into an R&D phase and some 5 years from commercial viability (www.asiaone.com: Singapore's fuel cell venture hits a snag).
It was thought at the time that this setback also resulted in Enertek reducing it's 25% stake as the Singapore based research was closed with operations moved to the UK and US.
On the less positive side, the fuel cell technology was always seen as a hidden gem within Rolls-Royce, but I guess from some perspectives the technology has never been core (as in gas turbine), although it could certainly sit easily within the industrial energy generation business.
And £45m seems a paltry amount for a controlling stake in what could be a future energy source which is probably how Singapore saw it.
It also seems strange given the US base and links to State College, that there wasn't significant interest from that direction also.
Anyway, for all that it is an interesting turn of events, its not something that I would expect to have any kind of material effect to the company at this time.
But, if it is approaching commercial production then that could be a different story altogether.
The future might be bright and it might be fuel cells!
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