PFI Yearbook 2014 - Foreword
PFI Yearbook 2014
Welcome to the 2014 PFI Yearbook. The Yearbook is our annual publication in which we look at the events of 2013, through case studies and the PFI Awards, and look forward into 2014 with articles in the Global section of the book. This year, we have introduced a series of interviews in the Global section with leading players in project finance across around the world in order to take the market’s temperature.
PFI Award Winners 2013
Global Awards
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Americas Awards
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Asia-Pacific Awards
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EMEA Awards
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Global Awards
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Blackstone goes on a venture
Blackstone Energy Partners invests in control and control-oriented equity investments within the energy and natural resources sector on a global basis. By Alison Healey.
At the heart of the Term Loan B trend
At the heart of the Term Loan B financing trend is Jean-Pierre Boudrias, the new head of project finance for Goldman Sachs, who joined the bank this year after stints at Credit Suisse, CIBC World Markets Leveraged Finance Group and Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec Private Investments Group. By Adrian Murdoch.
LatAm steps up to the plate
When Isaac Deutsch started working at WestLB in 1998, Latin American project finance bankers worried most about neither project nor finance, but political stability. In 2014, PF bankers have to be more diversified, using bonds, loans, advisories, ECAs, multilaterals, equity advisories and floating currency products. Political risk? Mostly, that’s a back burner problem. By Alan Gersten.
Clifford Capital – Flexibility is the key
It has been a year since Singapore’s Clifford Capital commenced operation. The concept behind its establishment was under development for about two years within Temasek Holdings. Minerva Lau went to meet the CEO, Clive Kerner.
The future of regional developers
This article raises issues about the environment in which development teams could again grow and nurture operations in Asia. By Stephen Wermert, senior management team, Coromandel, Singapore.
No matter how long the night, the dawn will break
Such is the saying – often quoted as an African proverb – attesting to the virtues of patience and perseverance. However, it also serves as an allusion to Africa’s gaps in infrastructure, particularly for electricity generation, transmission and distribution. As the well-known satellite photos of Africa at night show, very little of sub-Saharan Africa’s vast expanse is illuminated, so the nights are long indeed. By Michael Whalen, vice-president, structured finance, Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
A life-changing swap for Von Moltke
After 10 years working in the frontier markets of Europe with UniCredit, Constantin Von Moltke swapped PPP programmes and big bank get-togethers for African development finance and downtown Tunis. He talks to Colin Leopold about his role as the AfDB’s head of loans and the challenges ahead.
KfW-IPEX – The long-term bank
KfW-IPEX has stood out as one of the most active project finance lenders this year. How is the German bank’s business model as a long-term lender adapting to the changing market? Stefano Berra asks Andreas Ufer, head of power, and Thomas Brehler, head of infrastructure, KfW-IPEX.
LNG – Oil-linked pricing to stay
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) pricing has always been the focus of intense interest for producers and purchasers alike. By Sam McCready, LNG consultant, Poten & Partners Australia.
Building blocks for a busy 2014
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia estimates Australia’s infrastructure backlog to be approximately A$800bn. With few deals in 2013, 2014 promises to be a big year in the financing markets as the country seeks to catch up. A famine could quickly become a feast. By David Larocca, Ernst & Young, Oceania infrastructure advisory leader.
Myanmar – Power is the key
Myanmar’s emergence in the last 24 months as South-East Asia’s most exciting business opportunity has rarely been out of the press. It has a large, youthful population, a strategically advantageous geographical location within the ASEAN community and, most importantly following decades of authoritarian rule, a renewed desire to undertake the political and economic reforms necessary to position itself as a key economy in the region. By Nathan Dodd and Ben Thompson, Mayer Brown JSM.
TOP 10 Americas
The Top 10 deals in terms of dollar amounts for the Americas in 2013 were a mix of bank, bond, and Term Loan B transactions across the sectors.
Americas Awards
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Goreway refi adopts unique mix
Those involved in the Goreway power refinancing employed unique strategies in order to obtain attractive rates and terms. ByIchiro Kawano, deputy general manager, financial, and Zenkichi Kiriyama, deputy general manager, technical, Goreway Station Partnership.
Extending US PP to US PPPs
The November 2013 refinancing of the Long Beach Courthouse project through a US$520m 34-year issue in the Regulation D Private Placement market continues a recently increasing trend of utilising this market for refinancing of mini-perm loans in the project finance market. By Bhaswar Chatterjee, head, infrastructure and energy Americas, and Daniel Fuchs, vice-president, global markets, Deutsche Bank.
On the frontier – Texas pursuing PPPs
Like many states in the union, Texas’s sources of funding for road construction and maintenance – primarily federal and state gas taxes – have had difficulty keeping pace with the state’s infrastructure requirements. By Jennifer Hara, vice-president andJase Cabrera, associate, Taylor-DeJongh.
Agua Dulce yields sweet rewards
Some deals are sweet. Perhaps that’s why the developers named the US$700m gas pipeline project from Texas to the Mexican border, Agua Dulce, which means sweet water in Spanish. By Alan Gersten.
Inter-credit key to landmark deal
The landmark Chaglla financing represents a success in structuring and syndication of one of the most visible hydropower projects in Latin America. By Jean-Valery Patin, head of project finance Latin America, and Benjamin Koehler, project finance Latin America, BNP Paribas.
TOP 10 Asia-Pacific
The top 10 deals in the Asia-Pacific region were once again dominated by the two PF powerhouse countries, Australia and India. They have four and three deals respectively of the 10 completed transactions, and that’s US$15.7bn out of the US$24.2bn combined debt amount of the 10 deals
Asia-Pacific Awards
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Bahts and dollars power Thailand
A mix of local and Japanese banks have funded two of the larger SPP projects together. ByThongchai Kangvanchai, head of investment banking, Pornsit Poovanakijjakorn, senior investment banking executive and Vittawat Hokittikul, investment banking executive, Investment Banking Business Division, Kasikorn Bank.
Pooling finance for Indian wind portfolios
CLP had been supporting some of its Indian wind deals on-balance sheet so it decided that the there should be a mechanism by which cashflows of all the operational projects were pooled together. By Srinivas Karra, director, and Ankur Sood, vice-president, IDFC.
China – CBM development taking off
The first commercialised coal bed methane scheme in China has been financed through a reserve-based lending facility. By Jonathan Drew of HSBC and Alexandre Matczak of Standard Chartered Bank.
Taking the PPP convention forward
The evolution of public-private partnerships in Australia has taken a step forward with the financing structure of the A$1bn Sydney Convention Centre PPP project at Sydney’s Darling Harbour. By Chris Oliver, associate director, Capella Capital.
On track to financing a new sector
The financing of the rail link between Haridaspur and Paradip in the state of Odisha has set a precedent in the project-specific financing of the rail sector in India. By SK Agarwal, senior vice-president, and Mukesh Kumar, vice-president, SBI Capital Markets.
TOP 10 EMEA
2013 was the year when liquidity fully returned to the energy and infrastructure debt markets. The list of the largest deals in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region reflects the renewed confidence in the debt markets and the broad range of structured financings covered by the project finance market.
EMEA Awards
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Reggefiber sends clear signals
Reggefiber’s recent inaugural debt issue is another clear signal that institutional investors are increasingly interested in financing Dutch infrastructure assets. We explore the Reggefiber financing and whether this will lead to greater involvement in the Dutch infrastructure market by institutional investors. By Eelco Holst and Matthijs van der Horst,ABN AMRO.
Az Zour blazes a trail
The Az Zour independent water and power project (IWPP) reached financial close at year-end. It was one of those deals that was important in its own right and important for the wider project finance market. By Rod Morrison.
R1 – Bringing bonds to accounts
In late November, Granvia, as concessionaire of the R1 Expressway PPP, successfully issued €1.24bn of fixed-rate senior secured bonds due 2039 to refinance its existing senior debt obligations. By Bernd Fislage, global head asset finance, Robin Cresswell, institutional clients group, Michael Winkler, infrastructure and energy, Deutsche Bank, and Marco Rosso, European development, Massimo Fiorentino, global funding, institutional and banking relations, Meridiam Infrastructure.
Noor 1 – World's largest CSP plant
In June 2013, an ACWA Power-led consortium achieved financial close of the Noor 1 CSP (concentrated solar power) project, which at 160MWe with three hours of thermal storage is the largest CSP in the world, in that category. By Thierry Tardy, director, and Yunhe Lu, associate, acquisitions and project finance, ACWA Power.
Zorlu explores geothermal potential
Since 2008 Zorlu Enerji has been exploring the potential for geothermal development at Alașehir in Turkey with the ultimate goal of constructing an integrated power generation system. By Erdinc Cetin, Zorlu Enerji project finance department.
