Project Finance
Focus on value
Internationally, Grant Thornton member firms are regarded as leading service providers in Project Finance having advised on over 250 transactions which have brought more than €40billion of private sector funding to public sector projects. This international dimension means we can offer clients access to multidisciplinary and sectorally experienced individuals with access to our international resources and capabilities. Our clients benefit from advice during the complete life cycle of projects, thus ensuring that optimal value is secured every step along the long route from concept through commissioning to operation.
We offer:
- advice and support on project development, feasibility studies and business cases;
- integrated advice on tax, accounting, and corporate finance issues based on leading international practices;
- assistance in the preparation of consistent documentation working closely with legal and technical advisors;
- enhanced design and implementation of tailor-made solutions with the benefit of international experience and case studies;
- assurance in relation to the integration of each new project within the context of core policy, strategic, business and other objectives.
Project Finance / Public Private Partnerships
Project based financing of infrastructure is likely to be applied increasingly because of the urgent need for enhanced infrastructure and public services.
The Government needs to deliver public infrastructure without crippling the Exchequer. While our national finances are in an extremely healthy state we are not in a position financially to deliver all that is required within acceptable timescales by conventional means. In order to achieve accelerated delivery the Government has been looking for additional ways of procuring the necessary works while achieving value for money for the Exchequer. One of the methods that has been piloted in recent years involves the application of project financing techniques through partnership with the private sector – Public Private Partnerships.
These entail, inter alia, transfer of the responsibility for developing and maintaining key infrastructures to the private sector, while the Government maintains an involvement through various contractual mechanisms and structures or merely maintains a regulatory role.
“Project finance” techniques apply to projects that are capital intensive and can be financed on a limited or non-recourse basis. These techniques have become a way of funding key infrastructures globally. Their application to public infrastructure development have broadened their traditional scope to integrate the formal allocation of roles, responsibilities and risks, between public and private sector participants in each project.
Each of these projects are influenced by the evolution political considerations, demographics, economic development, geography and the financial / legal risks facing those who provide the necessary funding.
In each project, financiers and project sponsors must look primarily to its expected revenues for repayment of their investment and generation of a return on investment. Consequently, the success of each project relies upon:
- early definition of the need to be addressed and the scope of the project;
- an accurate identification of the major risks likely to be faced;
- the allocation of those risks to parties capable of managing them effectively; and
- the assessment of any recourse to other assets that may be to enhance the bankability of the project.
Contact
Des McCann
Head of Grant Thornton Project Finance
Peter McArdle
Head of Renewable Energy Group
T +353 (0)1 6805 805