Project financing?
Junior banker currently.
Family connection has a contract with a government project needing funding of around US$500m-1bn (not sure if debt or equity stake is being sought here, seems like the latter). Is this something an Investment Bank can help at all? It's not M&A, and it's not ECM/DCM as I don't think they can access the public market given that funding is only required at the ProjectCo level. Should I even tell my MD about this? Advice needed.
Yes, if it’s a public use project you can try to tap into the muni market. What will the funds be used for?
Thanks for your reply, really appreciate it.
To clear things up, the one looking for funding is not the government but the company that has won the project tender from the government. My question is that this company that is now looking for funding to execute this contract is likely to be just at the ProjectCo level, so essentially a blank company with nothing but a contract from the government. They are looking for investors to fund this ProjectCo so that they can execute the contract which is supposed to be very lucrative.
Do you think this is something an bank like BB can help? Honestly I am not sure as the only things I am involved in is M&A, bond/equity issuance, and I am not even sure what "looking for investor" falls under (if at all)?
If it’s going to project finance route the typical PF team is concerned with reoccurring business, can this connection do more than just this one deal? Typically any Project Financing that includes the government in the US is priced too low for lenders and needs to go the muni route. We don’t know your MD but if he’s not a dick and you’re a junior, I think it’s a fine question.
Hi thanks for the replies. Likely a one-time only. I am not sure how muni comes into play here since the one looking for funding is not the government but the company that has won the project tender from the government, and they're essentially looking for investors to be onboarded so they can execute the contract.
Yea, just that I really don't want to be wasting my MD's time too in case this is something literally out of the bank's scope.
Bumps
You can’t really answer this question without knowing what the contract is for. If there is a public use component to the project, the company could look for investors (potentially infra funds) and also tap the muni market for additional funding. May be a P3 structure, but without knowing what the contract is for, can’t really help.
Thanks for your reply. Just to confirm, so it's a normal think for investment to help finding investors/financing for a blank Project Co / partnership to execute contract (rather than an already existing company with cashflow). Cuz typically, IB deals with companies that are already up and running with cash flows rather than just a blank Project Co like this, that's why I wasn't sure if it's worth bringing this to the senior banker.
Sounds like something that Citi's Global Infrastructure Finance team specializes in. May want to check them out. Believe they do project level financings of this size.
This is something a project and infrastructure finance group can help with. Not necessarily a muni deal. Can be funded with bank project financing or project bonds. The bigger IBs are not typically very focused on this type of business because it tends to be small and bespoke/complex. Look at the league tables on ijglobal.com to see who’s doing these types of deals.
You're right this is indeed closer to project financing as the underlying company don't have much cashflow compared to the size of the project tender won.
I have some connections within EB and BB (including the place I am currently employed), do you think it's worth presenting this ~$500m-1bn project financing opps to them or do you think they will laugh it off?
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