Project Financing Definition

The International Project Finance Association defines Project finance as “financing of long-term infrastructure, industrial projects, power plant, etc., where project debt and equity used to finance the project are paid back from the cash-flow generated by the project.”

The two key aspects of project financing are: 1. The project revenues (cash flows) are expected to

service debt or equity interest taken by the providers of capital.

2. The loans are secured by the project assets or, to the extent security interests are restricted or have limited value, are secured by contingent support

from sponsors and other project participants.

Funds for project financing comes from variety of sources: such as:

equity capital, governmental aids, loans, which can be export (Eurobonds,

private placement and commercial papers), loans at favorable terms from development

institutions such as the World Bank or the Agency for International Development,

loans from multilateral agencies (IFC, ADB), commercial bank term loans or loans backed by export credit guarantees.

Sources of Funds

Project Financing Risks

GENERAL RISK Completion Risk MARKET RISK FEEDSTOCK RISK POLITICAL RISK FORCE MAJEURE PERMITS SPONSOR RISK LEGAL RISK ENVIRONMENTAL RISK Foreign exchange risk Interest rate risk

General risks

May be related to deficiencies in the feasibility studies: Too often preliminary studies fail to show upside potential and downside risk of the project.

Many developing countries, have spent time and money studying or constructing projects that turned out to be unfeasible. For example,

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were a substantial number of “white elephant” projects undertaken in developing countries for reasons relating more to national pride and other social considerations than to economic viability.

Projects that succeeded in the 2000s, are likely to be governed primarily by market driven considerations.

The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will finance feasibility studies, as will the Overseas

Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

Market Risk

Related to the assessment of whether market exists for the energy produced. This part of the feasibility study is therefore key to the success of the project.

Cash flow projections may be affected by a number of factors, such as economic and industry cycles, demand from the retail and whole sale end users driving request for electrical power.

Competition from other producers, albeit non-existant in the emerging markets.

Market risk could be mitigated to some extent by putting in place contractual assurances.

Two major types of agreement can be entered into, and these are: take or pay contracts or tolling agreements. Take or pay contracts are contracts (generally used for commodities like

electricity, oil and gas). In a typical take or pay contract structure, the contract is entered into between the project company and the buyers, but all payments arising from the contract are assigned by the project company to the lenders.

Production payment agreement (PPA). The financial effects of such contractual scheme are those of a financing arrangements (taking equity interest) through the purchase of a stake in the economical activity of the project. Such assignment guarantees the right to receive part of revenues generated from sales of electricity, up to retirement of the debt.

Tolling Agreement

Tolling agreements are agreements to put a specified amount of raw material per period through a particular processing facility. The toller, who is going to be the purchaser of electric energy (Dispatching), provides the toll processor (Power Plant owner) the natural gas for the production of electric energy and generally pays for transportation costs to the power plant. In this contractual scheme, therefore, both the fuel availability risk and the fuel supply risk are to be borne by the toller, while the toll processor is involved exclusively in the productive process.

The toller pays the toll processor a fee (called toll) Clearly, the tolling agreement is closer to a conversion contract (or a service contract) than to a sale: the power plant does not sell energy, the toll processor is therefore a

servicer and not a seller. Usually, the toll processor shall: Generate electrical energy with the gas or oil supplied by the toller, Supply energy exclusively (optional) to the toller; Hold the gas in custody on the toller’s behalf.

Usually, the toller shall: Supply natural gas and fuel oil; Absorb electric energy in the determined amount or (optional) in minimum amounts (“take or pay” clause); Pay the toll processor for the energy supplied, which usually includes: a conversion fee (for the service); a capacity availability fee; a fee for other services rendered by the toll processor

connected to the energy generation.

Related to the availability of feedstock (be it oil, natural gas, water etcetera).

Power plants require significant amounts of fuel to operate on ongoing basis, it is key to the success of the project to make sure that such fuel is available and will remain available during the operation of the plant.

In order to limit such the availability risk, lenders will normally require long-term supply contracts with the principal suppliers to ensure adequate supplies of the necessary volume and quality of feedstock at prices consistent with the financial projections for the project.

Feedstock Risk

Political risks may be considered a sub-category of force majeure events. Political risks represent a significant factor in structuring the financing of a developing country power project.

Such risk may include: Terrorism, war, civil war, rebellion, revolution; Prevention of, or delay in, the payment of external debt by the host

government or by that of a third country through which payment must be made;

Expropriation by the host government, either of equity debt interests or assets, or even bank accounts;

Cancellation or non-renewal of export licenses; Actions or failure to act by governments in breach of international

law, causing delay or stop in payments; Destruction of all or part of the manufacturer's assets or debt servicing

ability, or interruption of the manufacturer's operations.

Political Risk

Force Majeure

Force Majeure is a risk of a prolonged interruption of operations for period after a project finance project has been completed due to fire, flood, storm, or some other factor beyond the control of the projects sponsors.

Force majeure risks are circumstances that are not within the reasonable control of the parties. The acts beyond the control of the contractor, including acts of

God, natural disasters, insurrections, civil disorder, strikes as well as political violence and other

political acts

Permits are usually the responsibility of the sponsors or contractors. In order to attract

lenders to the project, sponsors and contractors must be able to show that they have fully analyzed the regulatory structure of the host country and acquire, all necessary permits to get the project underway.

Permits

Lenders analyze in depth sponsors’ and other participants’ strengths and weaknesses. Such analysis usually focuses on the strict financial strengths of the sponsor, such as

Balance sheet strength, proforma and projected earnings performance, and managerial skills of its directors.

The analysis of the track record of the sponsors in similar projects, and focuses also on examining, last but not least, the political support for the project, which is paramount.

Sponsor Risk

The contract should be carefully drafted to include provisions of governing law and

consent to foreign jurisdiction. In case the consent to foreign jurisdiction is agreed, it will be necessary to ascertain whether local government will enforce and recognize foreign decision, or will tend to retry the matter in the court.

In some developing countries issues of sovereign immunity arise. Sometimes sovereign nations refuse to acknowledge foreign jurisdictions. Usually a provision waiving sovereign immunity both as to the arbitration and the enforcement of the arbitral award is included in contracts. It would be desirable to insert arbitration provisions in the contract, even though lenders are usually not willing to derogate to court jurisdiction.

Sponsors will usually insist for negotiating an arbitration clause or by applying international conventions, such as the Convention on the Settlements of

Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID),

Legal Risk

Environmental Risk

Projects In the past, were largely constructed with little regard to environmental issues or the adverse social impact of the project on local populations.

Lending institutions, host countries and sponsors are focusing much more attention on these issues today and in the future, particularly for projects that involve the production of significant hazardous waste.

As developing countries do not currently have a detailed codified body of environmental law, lenders will require project compliance with

international environmental standard such as the World Bank guidelines or the standards from

environmentally advanced countries, such as the U.S.

Financing project

Financeability of projects depends on country risk availability, mitigation and ratings. The role of Export Credit Agencies & Development

Agencies will be crucial. Capital markets will play a minor role in project

financing, especially in sub-investment grade countries. Introduction of new insurance products may encourage

both Bank & Capital Market Debt, Domestic banks should play a greater role with local currency financing, overall project financing will become

more expensive when available for emerging market economies

Benefits of PPP

Cost saving Expedited completion Improved quality and system performance Substitution of private sector resources for

the constrained public resources Access cheaper source of funding

PPP Advantages

Accelerating the implementation of high priority projects.

Transferring private sector comparative advantage in procurement of service and technology to the public sector.

Delivery of new technology, engineering, design, etc Reducing the role of government and encouraging

privatization. Innovative financing offered by private sector for

funding public projects

PPP Domain of Responsibilities & Options

Build, Operate,

Own

(BOO)

Design, Build, Finance, Operate

(DBFO)

Build, Operate, Transfer

(BOT)

Design build

Private contractor fee basis

Design bid, build

Private OwnershipPublic Ownership

Definition BOT

The build-operate-transfer (BOT), build-operate, and own BOO, and design-build-operate-maintain (DBOM) model is a form of public private partnership PPP that combines the design and construction responsibilities with operations and maintenance. These integrated PPPs transfer design, construction, operation and maintenance of a single facility or group of assets to a private sector partner. ResponsibilitiesA single design-build-operate contract for the entire project with financing secured by the public agency, under which the contractor provides long-term operation and/or maintenance services, with the public sector sponsor retaining the operating revenue risk and any surplus operating revenue.

BOT

Build-operate-transfer

Public Sector (owner)

Contractor

Operator

Engineering & Design

Funding Vehicle

Toll from project by end users

Public Sector/Owner

DBFO

The Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO) contract, where the responsibilities for designing, building, financing and operating are transferred to private sector partners.

Various risks in the various stages are transferred to the private sector

With respect to the degree to which financial responsibilities are actually transferred to the private sector, there is a great deal of variety in DBFO arrangements in the United States and Europe,.

Practically all DBFO projects are either partly or wholly financed by debt leveraging revenue streams dedicated to the project.

DBFO Approach The DBFO approach transfers responsibilities for designing, constructing, financing and

operating projects to the private sector, allowing it to consider these obligations as an integrated whole throughout the contract period. A 30-year term was chosen in order to maximize the benefits of this so-called “whole-life” costing approach.

The objectives for embarking the DBFO initiative are: to minimize adverse environmental impacts while maximizing benefits for motorists; to transfer various risks to the private sector; to promote technical, operational, financial and commercial innovation; The shadow toll approach has also proven attractive for investors. Its main benefit is that

it minimizes traffic risk. Given that drivers themselves do not have to pay tolls, their choice of travel path is made solely based on time, distance, and convenience, and is therefore much easier to predict.

The United Kingdom maintains extensive records of traffic volumes and this data has enabled concessionaires to project revenue streams accurately enough to obtain financial guarantees from AAA-rated insurance companies, enabling concessionaires in turn to float their own AAA-rated bonds.

DBFO

User fees (tolls) are the most common form of revenue stream. However, others ranging from lease payments to shadow tolls and vehicle registration fees.

Future revenues are securitized to issue bonds or other debt that provide funds for capital and project development costs. The public sector may provide grants in the form of cash or contributions in kind, such as right-of-way. In certain cases, private partners may be required to make equity investments as well.

In Europe, Latin America, and Asia, where the DBFO approach is commonly used to develop new toll road projects, the debt is issued by private concession companies who are fully responsible for designing, building, financing, and operating the projects.

It is often more cost-effective for public project sponsors (in the USA) to issue debt than their private sector partners, because of their ability to issue low- interest tax-free debt.

Definition DBOM

ResponsibilitiesDBOM is a public private sector contract for procurement of public goods, where as project financing is secured by the public agency, under which the contractor provides long-term operation and/or maintenance services, with the public sector sponsor retaining the operating revenue risk and any surplus operating revenue.

Definition BOO

The build-own-operate model, a private company is granted the right to develop, finance, design, build, own, operate, and maintain a project.

The private sector partner owns the project outright and retains the operating revenue & risk and all of the surplus operating revenue in perpetuity. While this approach is more common in the power and telecommunications, it has also been used to develop transportation infrastructure.

Design-bid-build

Is the traditional project delivery approach that was used for most of the 20th century to procure public goods.

The design-bid-build model unbundles design and construction responsibilities by awarding them to a private engineer and a separate private contractor. By doing so, design-bid-build separates the delivery process into three phases:

1) Design, 2) Bid, and 3) Construction.  

Project Delivery

four major components of project delivery are:

1. contracting

2. compliance with environmental requirements

3. right-of-way acquisition

4. project finance

Types of private sector involvement

Types of private sector involvement in infrastructure development contracts:

Contracting out Private financing of public facilities Leasing Joint ventures BOT DBFO BOO Privatization

Phases of a PFI Project

Identification Tender Prepared by Government for

qualified bidders Selection Development Implementation Construction Operation Transfer

Project Phases

Economic framework Government’s role and support Transfer technology and capacity

building Procurement issues Financial and economic appraisal Risk management