At Rajah & Tann we have assembled a talented team of highly-rated specialists with in-depth expertise in all aspects of project finance.
Our lawyers understand the commercial drivers and the risks involved in projects ranging from cross-border oil and gas pipelines and refineries, to steel plants and toll roads. This enables us to advise and act for the entire range of stakeholders in a project, from project sponsors and EPC providers to those arranging or providing finance.
World-class expertise, global reach
We’ve worked on projects throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region, from India and the PRC to Australia and New Zealand. And further afield, our portfolio includes projects in Kazakhstan, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
Together with the expertise of our award-wining colleagues in the Construction and Projects practice group, the team is able to see a project through from inception to financial close.
Our areas of expertise include:
Project Contracts
Project contracts form the basis upon which lenders are able to determine the bankability of a project. Our team is experienced in advising on various project contracts such as:
- Concession agreements
- Input supply contracts such as coal / gas supply agreements
- Offtake agreements such as power purchase agreements and long-term oil and gas supply agreements
- Production sharing agreements, farm-ins, farm-outs and joint operating agreements
- EPC Contracts
- Operation and Maintenance Contracts
- Host government agreements.
Financing Arrangements
Representing project sponsors and lenders (commercial, multi-lateral and export credit agencies), our lawyers have been involved in a wide-range of financing transactions such as:
- Bid-financing for the acquisition of infrastructure assets
- Pre-export financing of various commodities
- Public-private partnerships such as BOT and BOOT
- Export credit agencies and multi-lateral covered financing
- Construction development financing
- Project financing of toll roads, ports, airports, power plants and various other infrastructure assets.
Project Finance Issues
Many of the projects we advise on are located in developing jurisdictions. We are therefore experienced in dealing with various complex project and financing issues such as:
- Completion risks and costs overruns
- Inter-creditor issues arising between the various group of creditors such as subordinated debt, senior debt, mezzanine debt, multi-lateral agencies, export credit agencies and government-backed financing
- Security issues including the recognition of various security structures and negative pledge clauses
- Direct agreements and step-in rights
- Political risks such as the risks of expropriation and change of law
- Foreign currency risks such as convertibility and currency transfer restrictions and the use of offshore reserve accounts
- Environmental issues such as compliance with the equator principles and its impact on the syndication of the facility
- Sovereign support including government guarantees, certainty of laws and taxes
- Force majeure
- Various risk mitigants such as foreign exchange swaps, interest rate swaps, forward contracts, indexation of revenue, project insurances, political risk insurances, operating budgets and various technical and revenue projections