Our Infrastructure, Government & Utilities team (IG&U) provides leading-edge advice from strategy through to transactions in the areas of Project Finance, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and Privatisation. We provide independent financial advice, ensuring a balance between conflicting objectives and the best structured and most competitive transactions for our clients.
Our local and international advisory experience covers numerous sectors including:
- Accommodation (offices, housing, prisons and regeneration);
- Health;
- Power, mining, oil and gas;
- Information and communications technology, including telecommunications and convergence;
- Transport (road, rail, ports and public transport); and
- Water and waste.
Public Private Partnerships
Government is under significant pressure to improve public services and develop and enhance infrastructure. This places a significant burden on government resources and public sector capital. Increasingly, the private sector is asked to provide capital and resources through PPPs, which take on many forms, including concessions and joint ventures.
PPPs allow the public sector to achieve value for money by accessing private sector capital, resources and skills, thereby obtaining the benefits of innovation, risk transfer and improved quality and service levels.
We focus on providing advice to either government or the private sector participant that achieves the objective of getting the transaction completed, while optimising the benefit to our clients. We help government undertake feasibility studies by scoping and developing the project and evaluating the right procurement methodology. By managing the procurement process, including negotiations assistance, we ensure a timely financial close in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements. We advise government on the principles and implementation of PPPs. We also assist the private sector in PPPs, structuring the deals, arranging finance and providing advisory assistance from bid submissions and clarification through to financial close. Furthermore, we provide specialist commercial advice to BEE investors participating in PPPs.
Project Finance
The demand for limited recourse funding continues to grow, driven by private sector investors in large industrial and resource projects, increasing demand for private finance in public sector infrastructure through PPP arrangements, as well as black economic empowerment funding requirements. Investors are requiring more innovative instruments, longer tenors and increasingly sophisticated financial risk instruments.
We provide independent advice and assistance on developing and modelling the commercial and financial structure for the transaction, arranging the most appropriate and efficient mix of financing and closing the transaction by supporting the negotiations of all agreements.
Privatisation
Governments require that their privatisation programmes focus on achieving their objectives, recognising local, cultural and economic conditions, while gaining from international experience and best practice. We work with governments, advising on privatisation policies, developing frameworks and assisting in implementing privatisation transactions across a broad range of industries. We provide support and advice on developing the appropriate strategy and structure for the privatisation transaction, regulation and competition policies. We assist in preparing the entity for privatisation, managing and implementing truly competitive procurement processes and we assist in closing deals in a timely manner and on fair terms and conditions. As independent advisers, we reconcile investors’ profit motives with government’s requirements for political and financial transparency. Our clients include national, provincial and municipal governments and state-owned entities. We similarly advise private sector investors, management and employees, in acquiring assets being privatised, and assist in developing structures that access international and local funds, allowing them to bid competitively.
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