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The following types and sources of finance, and related issues are presented in more detail in the text below - follow the links:
Purchase from internal budget using capital already owned by the organisation;
Commercial banks A commercial bank with whom you have an ongoing relationship should usually be the first organisation approached. For mainstream investments as part of your normal operations, they will be familiar with you and quite probably with dealing with the type of investments you have in mind.;
Debt finance is usually a conventional commercial bank loan, although in some circumstances debt may also be provided by institutional investors, most commonly insurance companies. Borrowers pay interest i.e. the cost of the debt, and repay the principal i.e. the loan amount.
Equity finance represents the investment on the behalf of the owners of the project, and usually comes from individuals, companies involved in a project such as project sponsors and equipment manufacturers, or sometimes from institutional investors like insurance companies or energy investment funds. These bodies are expected to take some form of capital stake in the project.
Subordinated debt is debt that ranks below the main (senior) debt in terms of its priority of payment or in liquidation.
Bonds are interest-bearing instruments issued by companies, governments or other organisations, and sold to investors in order to raise capital. They are a type of debt. Bonds tend to be long-term obligations with fixed interest rates and repayment schedules.
Grants are non-returnable source of funding which are provided to projects or exporters to cover capital costs. Bodies, with an interest in seeing the projects developed, use grants to encourage developers to consider projects which have high risks and uncertain returns.
Insurance and guarantees Whilst strictly speaking not a type of funding mechanism, insurance and loan guarantees are vital components in financing. For any project, a full insurance package must usually be in place before financing will be finalised.
Ownership For projects where new power plant is being developed independently of the local or national utility, the legal control and ownership of the plant can be described by various acronyms, such as BOO, BOOT etc.
Purchase from internal budget
Perhaps the simplest type of funding is using internal funds e.g. capital already owned by the organisation. The investment has to be compared against:
- competing calls on funds, including those for example on increasing plant capacity;
- using funds on reserve to pay off company debt.
Some internal funding will always need to be spent on the project, even if only for the initial appraisal to convince senior management and external bodies of the value of the proposed investment.
Commercial banks
A commercial bank with whom you have an ongoing relationship should usually be the first organisation approached. For mainstream investments as part of your normal operations, they will be familiar with you and quite probably with dealing with the type of investments you have in mind. If the proposal is unusual, for example:
- involving large sums of money;
- involving particularly novel technologies;
- having greater risks than normal,
they may often still be able to help, either by working through their branch organisation or by working with you in approaching other financial institutions.
In many cases a simple technical and financial appraisal is all that will be required. The level of interest that you will be charged on your loan will, as a rule, depend on the size and type of the loan, prime central bank rates, the degree of risk involved in the loan and the financial strength of the borrower.
Debt Finance
Debt is usually a conventional commercial bank loan, although in some circumstances debt may also be provided by institutional investors, most commonly insurance companies. Borrowers pay interest i.e. the cost of the debt, and repay the principal i.e. the loan amount. Lenders normally charge a pre-determined rate of interest which is set by adding an "interest margin" to the bank’s standard inter-bank lending rate. The interest margin is generally expressed in ‘basis points’ representing the bank’s return on investment or income. In some countries interest payments on debt may be tax deductible and this is one of the reasons debt is thought of as ‘cheaper’ then equity.
The lender does not have a share in the project and therefore has no "upside" potential. The "upside" is that if a project does well, there will be more cash and profits for the equity investors. No matter how well the project does, a lender will never receive more than the interest and principal repayments. The downside risk is that the lender faces losing 100% of the loan to the project if the project does not perform. Lenders and banks have little or no opportunity to increase returns and face the possibility of losing entire investments. Thus they focus closely on all aspects of risk, and want to take the least risk of all parties involved. Risk management is discussed elsewhere.
Equity Finance
Equity represents the investment on the behalf of the owners of the project, and usually comes from individuals, companies involved in a project such as project sponsors and equipment manufacturers, or sometimes from institutional investors like insurance companies or energy investment funds. These bodies are expected to take some form of capital stake in the project.
There is an expectation on the part of debt providers that all projects will be at least part-financed through equity. Typically, for well understood, relatively low risk investment the equity stake may be as low as 30%, but for less well understood (and hence riskier) investments, such as those in renewable based capacity, the required equity stake may rise to over 50% of the total project cost. Equity can take the form of direct capital investment by the borrowers, or as third party capital inputs (e.g. in the form of cash grants and capital subsidies). However, lenders demand that borrowers take an equity stake in their own right (to build their commitment to their stakeholding). In practice lenders normally look for a minimum of around 20% of the project cost to come in the form of borrower equity.
Equity differs from debt in that it receives the profit from the project. If the project does well, the equity pay out could be significant. If the project under-performs or becomes bankrupt, however, equity investors are the last to be paid, after the banks and other claims on the project. Thus equity takes a higher risk and potentially receives higher returns to compensate.
Subordinated Debt
Subordinated debt is debt that ranks below the main (senior) debt in terms of its priority of payment or in liquidation. The senior debt is usually bank debt, and there may be several layers of subordinated debt between the bank debt and equity. Subordinated debt principal and interest is paid only after the senior debt principal and interest is paid. In insolvency, subordinated debt holders receive payment only after the senior debt is paid in full. Interest paid on subordinated debt is normally tax deductible. Subordinated debt can be provided by companies involved in the particular power project, or can be from third parties.
Subordinated debt may or may not be secured. It is flexible and can be tailored to be deeply subordinated to the senior debt; in this case it may almost take on the characteristics of equity. When calculating debt or equity ratios, often bankers will consider subordinated debt as ‘quasi-equity’ and include it as part of the ‘equity cushion’ which supports the senior bank debt. For example, a project with 70% debt, 10% subordinated debt and 20% equity, sometimes may be viewed as a project having roughly 70% debt and 30% equity.
"Mezzanine finance" is a general term used to describe various financing arrangements that rank below the senior debt. There is no one definition for mezzanine finance; it may or may not be from third parties, but in general is more likely to be so. It may also have certain features that allow the debt to be converted into equity.
Bonds
Bonds are interest-bearing instruments issued by companies, governments or other organisations, and sold to investors in order to raise capital. They are a type of debt. Bonds tend to be long-term obligations with fixed interest rates and repayment schedules. Bonds are usually issued and sold in the public bond markets, although increasingly some are sold directly to institutional investors in which case the financing is known as a "private placement". Bonds sold directly to institutional investors may have the designation 144a, which refers to the rule in US Securities Law under which they are issued. The 144a rule allows US and foreign entities to raise capital in the US through a private placement without having to go through the full formal registration process, and allows such bonds to be traded. Rule 144a was first used in 1992 by a few pioneering IPPs, and has since become a favoured route to capital markets for large scale, conventional power projects as it provides more flexible financing than normal full public bond issue.
Public bonds, and some private issues, are graded by credit rating agencies. Different nomenclatures are used, but generally AAA or AA+ are the top ratings, with BBB- being the lowest investment grade bond rating. As long as they can achieve an investment grade credit rating, bond issues have advantages over bank debt in that they can provide a source of longer term money, and sometimes they may also have better commercial terms. However bonds are less flexible than bank financing. In addition, for projects in the developing countries, or those countries seen as more risky, the credit rating is affected by the host country's investment rating.
Grants
Grants are non-returnable source of funding which are provided to projects or exporters to cover capital costs. Bodies, with an interest in seeing the projects developed, use grants to encourage developers to consider projects which have high risks and uncertain returns. They can be used in order to reduce the risk exposure of the commercial lenders and investors, or to cover incremental capital costs. Grant programmes have to be operated carefully in a way that will not distort market forces or lead to market collapse on withdrawal. Typically a lender will accept a maximum of 30 to 50% of the total equity requirement of a project from grant sources.
Insurance and Guarantees
Whilst strictly speaking not a type of funding mechanism, insurance and loan guarantees are vital components in financing. For any project, a full insurance package must be in place before financing will be finalised. Lenders will have specific insurance requirements, and insurance documents will be part of the overall financing documentation. Two particular needs for insurance that are particularly relevant in the context of this work are: export insurance concerning the risks particular to doing business in other countries, and technology insurance concerning the risks particular to the performance of the technologies.
A range of appropriate insurance covers is commonly provided by export insurers such as export credit agencies (ECAs) and their private sector counterparts. Loan guarantees are very important, particularly for project financing. They provide the insurance cover for loans, guaranteeing the exporter payment from the loan and guaranteeing the financing bank the loan value in the event of default due to political or commercial risks. Loan guarantees are often a vital prerequisite for banks to be willing to lend to projects. However, very few of these funds are tied to the energy sector. Hence if energy projects are to gain access to such funds they need to give a better return than other investments (assuming that there is competition for the funds).
Technology insurance is very important for newer technologies, such as renewables. Lenders are wary of technological risk especially for new technologies or new applications of old technology. To cover the technological risk, manufacturers often provide performance guarantees or bonds. If the manufacturer is not a large creditworthy company, additional support may be required from commercial insurance policies or bank guarantees.
Ownership
For projects where new power plant is being developed independently of the local or national utility, the legal control and ownership of the plant can be described by various acronyms. BOO (build, own, operate) is used when ownership of the project remains with the same company throughout its life. BOT (build, operate, transfer) is when the project company retains control for a time to receive profits from operational revenue, and then transfers ownership, often to the local public sector utility. Similarly for BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) where ownership actually resides with the project company for a time. BOLT (build, own, lease, transfer) is for when the company leases control to third parties, before transferring ownership.
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