Black Cowrie Finance is the leading financial advisor in the organization of financing, refinancing and restructuring, financial modeling, evaluation of investment projects, and strategic consulting. Black Cowrie's Project Financing Team is specialized in the area of financing having many years of experience gathered in banks' departments of transaction structuring, arranging to finance for companies, non-recourse project financing, corporate finance advisory, and financial modeling.

Due to the acquired knowledge and experience, BLACK COWRIE FINANCE's Project Financing Team will be the right partner for you, ensuring successful project execution for all parties involved and helping raise project finance capital by providing direct access to reliable investors and financiers. Black Cowrie provides project owners/sponsors/promoters much-needed non-recourse project financing solutions and necessary support to raise capital for their projects through their developmental and operational stages.

For both greenfield as well as brownfield projects, BLACK COWRIE FINANCE is the essential gateway to project experts, investors and financiers. We have been at the forefront of several non-recourse project financing transactions across various sectors of the economy around the globe. Our non-recourse project financing services have benefitted projects not only in their inception stages but also startups, shovel-ready projects, green-shoot projects.

We have the means as well as the necessary expertise to approach numerous Banks, Investment Bankers, Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), Financial Institutions (FIs), Venture Capitalists (VCs), Private Equity Investors (PE), Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs), Family Businesses, Hedge Funds, Pension Funds, Underwriters, Insurance Providers, etc. with great speed and efficiency. We understand how these fund providers and investors work and what are their main areas  of interest. Targeting the right source is not just important but also crucial for achieving successful financial close. 

BLACK COWRIE FINANCE's Non-recourse Project Finance Team offers:

1. Identification of projects with a Cash Flows Generating component and bankability potential;

2. Support of project development to achieve bankability;

3. Preparation and structure of transaction by leveraging our consulting, financial and legal expertise; 

4. Finding the right investor and achieving financial close;

5. Support to the client through the project execution and construction phases. 

We can be present with our services across the entire project lifecycle:

• Strategy and planning: Assisting long-term planning of individual projects or a portfolio by focusing on feasibility, alignment with corporate objectives and governance procedures in order to maximize return on investment.
• Financing and procurement: Raising project finance; establishing and managing the procurement process to acquire services, material or equipment to deliver the project, and prioritizing capital allocation between projects.
• Project organization, execution and construction: Setting up the project for success and strengthening client capabilities to deliver on time and to budget.
• Operations and maintenance: Assessing ongoing lifecycle costs and providing insights around optimizing the performance and value of assets in operation.
• Asset recycling, concession maturity & decommissioning: Determining when and how to discontinue investing in an asset, and transaction advisory services for investors in infrastructure assets.

Our Non-recourse Project Financing services include:

• Advisory on  arranging new financing and refinancing, restructuring of existing debt both in the banking and debt capital markets, including credits, loans and debt securities issues, eg. in conjunction with:

1. The need to obtain additional financing for new projects or new business strategy
2. The need to obtain financing for the acquisition of another entity
3. The need to diversify funding sources
4. The need / wish to refinance existing obligations in order to obtain more favorable terms
5. The deteriorating financial situation of the company, resulting in lowering the credit rating and violation of financial ratios;

•  Strategic consulting, including the preparation of business strategies, business restructuring plans, verification of investment and acquisition plans, identification of potential areas for efficiency improvements, resulting inter alia from:

1. Formation of a new group or change in existing group, eg. as a result of acquisitions
2. Development of the company by entering new markets / introducing new products
3. The deteriorating financial situation and the need to redefine strategies, to allow the continued operation of the company / group;

• Preparation of business plans, feasibility studies, analyzes of the economic efficiency of investment projects, eg. in conjunction with:

1. The necessity of arriving by a company’s authorities at a decision regarding realization of a new project
2. The necessity to make an investment decision by an investor intending financial involvement in the project
3. The necessity to make a decision regarding the economic viability of the implementation of the investment project (benefits, obstacles, estimation of the required resources, including financial ones), etc.

• Preparing financial models and conducting independent reviews of financial models, in order to inter alia:

1. Obtain financing and determine the optimal financing structure of the company / group
2. Determine the effects of the investment project / revised strategy
3. Review internal cohesion, mathematical accuracy and methodological compliance of the model
4. Overview of the assumptions adopted in the model, in terms of their consistency and compliance with formulas, assumptions or provisions adopted in the project agreements;

The key reasons for the underdevelopment of project financing lie in insufficient project maturity and inability to develop projects to the level necessary to achieve bankability. Access to finance is one of the main reasons that infrastructure projects are not developing faster and the key stakeholders sometimes do not see a business case for financing. Moreover, lack of know-how and competence of key stakeholders require a complex multidisciplinary approach in order to guarantee project execution.

Projects, however, are funded solely on their merits. Although we do not make claims of 100% success rate in our pursuit of project finance, with our expertise and experience, our clients enjoy a definite advantage in terms of getting their projects successfully funded. The following are extremely important for achieving successful financial closure.

Business Plan & Pitch Deck

We have been consistently endeavoring to simplify the process of raising Project Finance​ for the project promoters and owners across the world. While discussing Project Finance, the significance of submitting a concise yet profoundly informative Project Proposal or Business Plan cannot be overestimated. Fund Providers as well as investors want to see a business plan that is short enough to engage investor interest and yet long enough to cover all vital project information.

We realize that it is not easy to put a winning Business Plan in place unless the Business Plan writer has been thoroughly acquainted with the project right from its inception. There are numerous consultants who would accept any Business Plan compiled by anyone. However, we generally do not. Project Finance is a challenging task and our experts would like to do it in a highly evolved manner so that chances of successful financial closure  is extremely high. We accept a Business Plans compiled by either a competent project management team or a professional financial services provider with history of handling financial modeling for projects. Financial modeling combines accounting, finance, and business metrics to create an abstract representation of a company in Excel and has a wide range of uses, including making business decisions at a company, making investments in a private or public company, pricing securities, or undergoing a corporate transaction such as a merger, acquisition, divestiture, or capital raise. 

We also need a Pitch Deck. A pitch deck is a brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi, used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan with visual enhancements such as graphs, charts, and pictures. You will usually use your pitch deck during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders.

Financial Modeling 

Financial modeling, often considered synonymous to financial statement forecasting, is an effective tool for providing a clear picture of the forecasted financial performance of a company. The process results in the construction of a mathematical model that assists in firm’s decision making as well as financial statement analysis. The importance of financial modeling is mainly rooted in its capability to enable better financial decisions within a firm. It is widely used by organizations for the purpose of future planning. By simulating the impact of important variables, financial modeling allows for scenario preparation so that organization knows its course of action in various situations that may arise.

Financial modeling also plays an important role in capital budgeting. Not only does it make financial statement analysis and resource allotment for the next big investment easier, but it also helps in determining the cost of capital. It provides a thorough analysis of debt/equity structure for this purpose, along with the returns expected by investors. 

We realize forecasting a company’s operations into the future can be very complex since each business is unique and requires a very specific set of assumptions and calculations. We will then focus on the following:

1. Historical data – input at least 3 years of historical financial information for the business.

2. Ratios & metrics – calculate the historical ratios/metrics for the business, such as margins, growth rates, asset turnover ratio, inventory changes, etc.

3. Assumptions – continue building the ratios and metrics into the future by making assumptions about what future margins, growth rates, asset turnover, and inventory changes will be going forward.

4. Forecast – forecast the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement into the future by reversing all the calculations you used to calculate historical ratios & metrics.  In other words, use the assumptions that you made to fill in the financial statements.

5. Valuation – after the forecast is built, the company can be valued using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis method. 

Structuring

The structuring of project financing is a framework in which ownership structure, project structure, risk structure, and financial structure decisions are made and tied together in the project's legal structure which, in turn, forms a foundation for funding the project on a limited recourse basis. The ownership structure is how the special purpose company/vehicle (SPC/SPV) is organized; that is, as a corporation, unincorporated joint venture, limited liability partnership, etc. Project structure on the other hand refers to the agreements defining responsibilities and transfer of rights and/or ownership of the SPC/SPV such as build, operate, and transfer of ownership (BOT), build, own, operate, and transfer (BOOT), build, lease, and transfer (BLT), etc.
Risk structure is the prioritization and mitigation of risks after the identification, assessment, and allocation process is completed. The project's legal structure is the web of contracts and agreements negotiated to make financing possible. Financial structure refers to the mix of financing used to fund a project, which includes equity, short‐ and long‐term loans, bonds, trade credits, etc. and the cash flows to equity providers and the lenders.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) project company with no previous business or record is necessary for project financing. The company’s sole activity is carrying out the project by subcontracting most aspects through construction contract and operations contract. Because there is no revenue stream during the construction phase of new-build projects, debt service is possible during the operations phase only. For this reason, parties take significant risks during the construction phase. Sole revenue stream is most likely under an off-take or power purchase agreement. Because there is limited or no recourse to the project’s sponsors, company shareholders are typically liable up to the extent of their shareholdings. The project remains off-balance-sheet for the sponsors and for the government.)

Project Risk Identification, Analysis, Mitigation, and Allocation

 We assist our clients with arriving at a comprehensive risk management strategy. The core of Project Finance is the analysis of project risks, namely construction risk, operating risk, market risk, regulatory risk, insurance risk, and currency risk. There are risks related to the pre-completion phase such as activity planning risk, technological risk, and construction risk or completion risk. Then there are risks related to the post-completion phase such as supply risk, operating risk, and demand risk.  And then there are risks related to both phases such as interest rate risk, exchange risk, inflation risk, environmental risk, regulatory risk, political risk, country risk, legal risk, and credit risk or counterparty risk. These risks are allocated contractually to the parties best able to manage them. The process of risk management is usually based on the following interrelated steps:

1. risk identification;
2. risk analysis;
3. risk transfer and allocation;
4. residual risk management;

Essential to structuring a project finance package are the crucial elements of successful identification, analysis, mitigation and allocation of project risks. These risks are related to events that could endanger the project during development, construction and operation.

During the development stage the main risk is rejection by the host government or by the financiers – for reasons including commercial weakness, failure to obtain licenses, permissions and clearance. Sponsors can hedge their risks by obtaining technical assistance grants for project preparation and planning.
During the construction stage the main risk is failure to complete the project with acceptable performance levels and within an acceptable time frame and budget. Sponsors can hedge construction risks by purchasing various forms of insurance and obtaining guarantees from contractors with regard to costs, completion schedule and operational performance.
After construction, the main risk is ongoing operations and performance and include technical failures, availability of funds, market demand, prices, foreign exchange rates or environmental issues. The sponsors can hedge these risks through contractual and guarantee agreements that transfer some of the risk to other parties.
 

Realizing Benefits Of Project Finance

Financing projects through the project finance route offers various benefits such as the opportunity for risk sharing, extending the debt capacity, the release of free cash flows, and maintaining a competitive advantage in a competitive market. Project finance is a useful tool for companies that wish to avoid the issuance of a corporate repayment guarantee, thus preferring to finance the project in an off-balance sheet manner. The project finance route permits the sponsor to extend their debt capacity by enabling the sponsor to finance the project on someone's credit, which could be the purchaser of the project’s outputs. Sponsors can raise funding for the project based simply on the contractual commitments.

Project finance also permits the sponsors to share the project risks with other stakeholders. The basic structure of project finance demands that the sponsors spread the risks through a network of security arrangements, contractual agreements, and other supplemental credit support to other financially capable parties willing to assume the risks. This helps in reducing the risk exposure of the project company.

The project finance route empowers the providers of funds to decide how to manage the free cash flow that is left over after paying the operational and maintenance expenses and other statutory payments. In traditional corporate forms of organization, corporate management decides on how to use the free cash flow — whether to invest in new projects or to pay dividends to the shareholders. Similarly, as the capital is returned to the funding agencies, particularly investors, they can decide for themselves how to reinvest it. As the project company has a finite life and its business is confined to the project only, there are no conflicts of interest between investors and the management of the company, as often happens in the case of traditional corporate forms of organization.

Financing projects through the project finance route may enable the sponsors to maintain the confidentiality of valuable information about the project and maintain a competitive advantage. This is a benefit of raising equity finance for the project (however, this advantage is quite limited when seeking capital market financing (project bonds). Where equity funds are to be raised (or sold at a later time so as to recycle capital) through market routes (for example, Initial Public Offerings [IPOs]), the project-related information needs to be shared with the capital market, which may include competitors of the project company/sponsors. In the project finance route, the sponsors can share the information with a small group of investors and negotiate the price without revealing proprietary information to the general public. And, since the investors will have a financial stake in the project, it is also in their interest to maintain confidentiality.

In spite of these advantages, project finance is quite complex and costly to assemble. The cost of capital arranged through this route is high in comparison with capital arranged through conventional routes. The complexity of project finance deals is due to the need to structure a set of contracts that must be negotiated by all of the parties to the project. This also leads to higher transaction costs on account of the legal expenses involved in designing the project structure, dealing with project-related tax and legal issues, and the preparation of necessary project ownership, loan documentation, and other contracts.

Understanding The Dynamics Of Project Financing

From a broad perspective and general analysis, the financial viability (or commercial feasibility) of the project is assessed by determining whether the net present value (NPV) is positive. NPV will be positive if the expected present value of the free cash flow is greater than the expected present value of the construction costs. However, in addition to or in lieu of the NPV, lenders will use debt ratios such as the Debt Service Cover Ratio (DSCR) and Life Loan Cover Ratio (LLCR) as the main ratios to measure bankability.

The DSCR measures the protection of each year’s debt service by comparing the free cash flow (more precisely, the cash flow available for debt service – CFADS) to the debt service requirement. The DSCR requires that the cash flow available for debt service is at least a specified ratio (for example, 1.2 times) of the scheduled debt service for the relevant year. The LLCR compares the overall amount of free cash flow projected for the life of the loan, duly discounted with the amount of debt under analysis. The LLCR also reflects the capacity of the SPV to meet the debt obligations over the life of the loan (considering potential re-structuring).

On the basis of the projected cash flows of the SPV, including the debt profile under analysis, lenders and their due diligence advisors will observe the value of such ratios, and accommodate the debt amount so as to meet them, considering the maximum term at which they are ready to lend. Subsequently, they will run sensitivities analysis (including break-even analysis) on the project cash flows to test the resistance of the project to adverse conditions or adverse movements of the free cash flow figures from the base case.

In determining financial viability, and related to the reliability of cash flows and the guarantees offered by the contract (especially termination provisions), the lenders will analyze the risk structure of the contract. This will include determining how achievable the performance standards in government-pays projects, or the contractual guarantees in user-pays projects, actually are. Lenders will exercise tight control of all cash flows, limiting the ability of the private partner to dispose of them — through “covenants” (for example, no distributions may be made if the actual DSCR of the previous year has not meet a certain threshold). The bank accounts through which cash flows pass will be pledged and held with a bank within the syndicate; this is in addition to other provisions to be adapted in the loan agreement.

How Project Financing Solutions By BLACK COWRIE FINANCE Helps
Project Finance is one of the key focus areas for BLACK COWRIE FINANCE. We have access to several project financing groups and institutions that have institutionalized capabilities to successfully manage the unique and multidimensional process of project finance transactions led by customized project structuring approach.
These groups and institutions have been the lead arrangers and underwriters of a significant amount of project debt over the years. In the Indian project finance domain, they enjoy a leadership position and are acknowledged for their comprehensive domain expertise and knowledge in the infrastructure, manufacturing and mining sectors, having ensured timely financial closure of several big ticket projects.
​Whether you're investing in renewable energy, telecommunications or water supply and waste water treatment – we develop the right solution for sustainably viable, flexibly structured financing to meet the needs of your transaction.
Backed by in-depth expertise you can benefit from our wide network in emerging and developing countries, our comprehensive knowledge of sectors and industries, and our 21 locations across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Latin America. 

Applying For Project Finance
Share with us your Business Plan and the Financial Modeling Workbook We will review these and revert back to you if we find your project of interest to us. 

It is important to note our project financing services do not come for free and hence be prepared to pay our service charges when you use our services. Also, we are rather choosy about who we serve. We encourage only serious clients who understand what it takes to arrange finances for projects. Our seamless services start with our client sending us a formal Letter of Intent expressing his/her desire to hire our services and then following this up by entering into a formal service agreement with us and depositing the token Engagement Fee which is non refundable. That is not all. You would be further liable to pay a Success Fee (case specific) post successful financial close.

Please Note:
1. We quickly respond to all inquiries. 

2. We do not delegate executive time to an inquiry until your project, as expressed in your fully completed Project Finance Application form, has been thoroughly evaluated by our analysts.

3. To ensure our executives do not waste time on unrealistic inquiries we do not enter discussions in any form until we have a full understanding of your project's potential and risks. We therefore do not offer meetings, hold telephone discussions or return telephone calls until we have thoroughly evaluated your project.

4. Please do not send us additional communications during the application phase as it delays the application process.

5. We do not finance projects valued at less than $5,000,000.00 (United States Dollars five million), we do not finance acquisitions and we do not finance projects in countries mentioned in this Restricted Nations list

6. All our official communications are in English. We do not offer a translation service.

Upon receipt of all the documents and information submitted by the applicant, a Funder would evaluate the project in greater detail. Generally an Appraisal meeting is convened where all the decision makers at the Funding Company officially review the project as presented to determine if the project is within their scope of funding. Subsequent to this meeting, a due diligence of the project is generally undertaken by the Funder and the Project Sponsors/Applicant pay(s) for the expenses involved in carrying out the due diligence. Such expenses are project specific.

Financial Due Diligence
Financial due diligence requires that, during loan preparation and processing, sufficient analysis is undertaken to enable an informed assessment to be made with respect to project financial viability and long-term sustainability, and that the borrowers’ financial and project management systems are, or will be, sufficiently robust to ensure that funds are used for the purpose intended and that controls will be in place to support monitoring and supervision of the project.

There are Guidelines that provide the framework for financial due diligence, namely completion of a financial management assessment (FMA) of the executing agency (EA) and/or implementing agency (IA), financial evaluation of the project, and assessment of implementation arrangements (from a financial perspective, including disbursement and auditing arrangements).

The methodology note provides specific guidance in four primary aspects of financial due diligence:

1. financial management assessment,

2. project cost estimates and financing plan,

3. financial analysis, and

4. financial evaluation.

It also provides guidance on assessing disbursement auditing arrangements. This financial due diligence methodology note offers a suggested approach for operationalizing the standard project preparation and loan processing requirements of the Guidelines. the Guidelines, together with the methodology note, should be seen as a reference guide to assist staff in conducting an appropriate degree of financial due diligence during project  preparation and processing, and should guide staff in determining the appropriate level of financial management  safeguards required for a given project and/or EA and/or IA. The advice, directions, and recommendations provided should not be regarded as a substitute for the professional judgment of BLACK COWRIE FINANCE staff.

Financial Management Assessment
Effective financial management within the EA and/or IA is a critical success factor for project sustainability, both in the effective use of funds and in the safeguard of assets once created. Irrespective of how well a particular project or program is designed and implemented, if the EA and/or IA does not have the capacity to effectively manage its financial resources, the benefits of the project are unlikely to be sustainable.
The objective of the financial management assessment (FMA) is to ensure that the EA and/or IA has, or will have, sufficiently strong and robust financial management systems and procedures in place to ensure sustainability of project investments and benefits over time.
The FMA is a review of the entity’s systems for financial and management accounting, reporting, auditing, and internal controls. It also involves an assessment of the entity’s disbursement and cash flow management arrangements, and governance and anticorruption measures. The FMA is not an audit; it is a review designed to determine whether or not the entity’s financial management arrangements are sufficient for the purposes of project implementation.

Approach and Methodology
The first step is to determine whether an FMA has recently been completed by any other credible financial institution (Bank, NBFC, VC or PE agencies) , the objective being to avoid duplicating diagnostic work that already exists. If an FMA exists, this should be reviewed and, in particular, any work done to overcome previously identified weaknesses should be checked. The original FMA can then be updated accordingly.
While planning to rely on the work of another lender , BLACK COWRIE FINANCE would thoroughly review the agency’s assessment report to determine whether or not the results of the FMA are reasonable and can be accepted by BLACK COWRIE FINANCE.
If an FMA has never been completed, or if there have been significant on-ground changes which render an existing FMA obsolete, then the following approach to the FMA is recommended:
Review the Economic Sector diagnostic studies specific to the country where the project is located, including the country financial accountability assessment, country procurement assessment report, country governance assessment, and diagnostic study on accounting and auditing.
Early in project preparation, have the borrower/project promoter complete a Financial Management Assessment Questionnaire (FMAQ).
Review responses to the FMAQ, determine what (if any) additional information is required in order to be able to conclude whether or not the financial management arrangements (a) are capable of recording all transactions and balances, (b) support the preparation of regular and reliable financial statements, (c) safeguard the entity’s assets, and (d) are subject to audit.
Review past audit reports and audit management letters to assess what concerns have previously been raised on systems and internal controls.
Form a conclusion with respect to whether or not the financial management arrangements and financial and project accounting systems can be relied upon for the purposes of the project.
If issues and/or weaknesses are identified, determine the most appropriate mitigation measures (e.g., restructuring finance sections, increasing finance staff, filling vacant posts, developing new systems, developing financial reporting, training, etc.).
Determine whether, given the findings, it is necessary to include a project component to strengthen financial management in the EA and/or IA and/or establish or strengthen a project implementation or project management office via either technical assistance or consultant support within the project.

Due Diligence
1. Due Diligence service is rendered by an accredited Due Diligence service provider appointed by the Funding Partner Company. Due Diligence is by far the most important exercise in the funding consideration process.

2. The charges for the Due Diligence are to be borne by the applicant. These charges are specific for every case and the applicant is given prior notice of this.

3. It is extremely important that the applicant understands clearly the processes of Due Diligence is to secure a successful transaction and mutual business relationship between the applicant and the Funding Partner Company.

4. The Funding Partner Companies provide finance to viable projects on precise terms. There are no general terms. Everything is specific to the project under consideration.

Once the Due Diligence is successfully completed, a Funding Offer is officially made from Funding Partner Company to the applicant (Project Owner(s)/ Promoter(s)). The Project Owner(s)/Promoter(s) are issued an Invitation Letter for a table meeting in the Funding Partner Company’s office which can be in any country. Post a personal interview of the project owner(s)/promoter(s) ,the Loan Agreement/MOU is drafted and signed. Insurance requirements too would be discussed and finalized at this meeting.

Post successful completion of all of the above processes, funding disbursement would commence within the specified time frame.