Project Finance
Chapter 1
1.1 Introduction
Definition
Project financing involves non-recourse financing of the development and construction of a particular project in which the lender looks principally to the revenues expected to be generated by the project for the repayment of its loan and to the assets of the project as collateral for its loan rather than to the general credit of the project sponsor.
"Project finance" is a method for obtaining commercial debt financing for the construction of a facility. Lenders look at the credit-worthiness of the facility to ensure debt repayment rather than at the assets of the developer/sponsor. Farm biogas projects have historically experienced difficulty securing project financing because of their relatively small size and the perceived risks associated with the technology. However, project financing may be available to large projects in the future. In most project finance cases, lenders will provide project debt for up to about 80% of the facility's installed cost and accept a debt repayment schedule over 8 to 15 years. Project finance transactions are costly and often an onerous process of satisfying lenders' criteria.
“Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with non-recourse debt (and equity from one or more sponsoring firms) for the purpose of financing a single purpose capital asset, usually with a limited life.”
This definition highlights the following features of Project Finance:
Project Finance involves creating a legally independent project company to invest in the project; the assets and liabilities of the project company do not appear on the sponsors’ balance sheet. As a result, the project company does not have access to internally generated cash flows of the sponsoring firm. Similarly, the sponsoring firm does not have access to the cash flows of the project company. In contrast, in Corporate Finance, the same investment is financed as part of the company’s existing
1.1 Introduction
Definition
Project financing involves non-recourse financing of the development and construction of a particular project in which the lender looks principally to the revenues expected to be generated by the project for the repayment of its loan and to the assets of the project as collateral for its loan rather than to the general credit of the project sponsor.
"Project finance" is a method for obtaining commercial debt financing for the construction of a facility. Lenders look at the credit-worthiness of the facility to ensure debt repayment rather than at the assets of the developer/sponsor. Farm biogas projects have historically experienced difficulty securing project financing because of their relatively small size and the perceived risks associated with the technology. However, project financing may be available to large projects in the future. In most project finance cases, lenders will provide project debt for up to about 80% of the facility's installed cost and accept a debt repayment schedule over 8 to 15 years. Project finance transactions are costly and often an onerous process of satisfying lenders' criteria.
“Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with non-recourse debt (and equity from one or more sponsoring firms) for the purpose of financing a single purpose capital asset, usually with a limited life.”
This definition highlights the following features of Project Finance:
Project Finance involves creating a legally independent project company to invest in the project; the assets and liabilities of the project company do not appear on the sponsors’ balance sheet. As a result, the project company does not have access to internally generated cash flows of the sponsoring firm. Similarly, the sponsoring firm does not have access to the cash flows of the project company. In contrast, in Corporate Finance, the same investment is financed as part of the company’s existing