10th February 2020
The Four Seasons Hotel, Downtown Miami

Agenda

Plenary

10th February 2020

08:00
Registration and coffee
Session ends: 09:10
09:10
Chairman’s opening remarks
Speakers
  • David Gonzalez, Managing Director & Head of Project & Structured Finance, Latin America and the Caribbean, SMBC

Session ends: 09:20
09:30
Building opportunities for growth in a challenging world: A macroeconomic overview of infrastructure in Latin America
Speakers
Session ends: 10:00
10:00
Why accessing the capital markets is crucial to the future development of Latin America’s projects… but what is deterring companies from issuing project bonds?
  • Why have project bonds not taken-off in the region? Are they uneconomical or are they too complex?
  • Pricing, tenor, investor base: What are the gains associated with using the capital markets to finance projects?
  • Greenfield vs brownfield vs expansion: How effectively can project bonds be used to fund at different project stages?
  • Project bonds vs. vanilla bonds: What are the alternative capital markets solutions that developers could consider to access the capital markets?
  • Commoditising construction risk: How can the structure be standardised in order to allow for investors to take on and manage construction risk?
Moderator
Speakers
Session ends: 10:45
10:45
Banking Latin America’s projects: How is the changing mandate of local banks, ECAs and DFIs impacting liquidity, price and tenors in the project loan market?
  • Loan market activity 2020 – what markets are the bright spots?
  • Are local banks overcrowding the market? Is this sustainable? How can they adjust their positions to improve loan market conditions?
  • Local vs hard currency: How can developers, sponsors and off-takers avoid providing guarantees and securities and access sufficient USD funding?
  • Basel III and cost of funding: How are intensifying pressures impacting liquidity amongst local and international lenders?
  • Local vs international vs DFIs vs ECAs: Understanding the competitive dynamics of the project finance market and their implications for loan market activity
  • What structures and opportunities is the scale back of BNDES creating for private sector involvement in Brazil? How can regional development banks help open up more private investments in other countries across Latin America?
  • The role of ECAs: How can developers and sponsors work with export credit agencies to access preferential rates and tenors?
Moderator
Speakers
Session ends: 11:30
11:30
Coffee and networking break
Session ends: 12:00
12:00
A new frontier in financing structures: How can hybrid deals and private placements address the needs of long-term projects?
  • What is driving the growth of hybrid deals and private placements across Latin America?
  • How are hybrid deals structured? What are the benefits for developers?
  • How is the increasing competition amongst banks in the hybrid deals space going to impact the market?
  • How can developers attract funding from international institutional investors through private placements?
  • Private placement market capacity: What ticket sizes can the market stomach? How can liquidity be increased by adding additional layers to the structure?
Moderator
Speakers
Session ends: 12:45
12:45
ESG, green finance and renewables: How can developers looking to secure sponsorship from international lenders and investors get ahead of the curve?
  • Sustainability metrics: How are banks standardising the way they define and measure ESG? How are they planning to position themselves at the forefront of the sustainable shift?
  • Benefits of going green – how can developers’ access better pricing, tenors and liquidity by incorporate ESG practices?
  • What do issuers need to prepare before launching a Green bond?
  • International investors are increasingly looking at ESG as a core criterion in their investment process: What do sponsors, corporates and developers need to do to improve ESG scores? What are the expectations and the realities?
Moderator
Speakers
Session ends: 13:45
13:45
Networking Lunch
Session ends: 15:00
15:00
Keynote: What policies will dictate energy and infrastructure investment across the region into 2020?
  • Regulatory direction following key elections in the region’s largest economies – public spending, strategic programmes and new legislation
  • PPPs, project bonds, structured finance: How are different governments planning to fund their energy and infrastructure needs?
  • Decoupling concessions agreements from the political cycle – is there willingness to do this amongst governments?
  • Attracting international institutional investors by effectively presenting off-taker agreements
    • Outlining terms of the agreement
    • Explaining country risk and regulation
    • Showcasing project performance
Speakers
Session ends: 15:30
15:30
Do yields on project bonds (versus buying senior unsecured) justify the credit work required in buying them?
  • What criteria should project bonds display to wet investors’ appetite?
  • Assessing metrics for bond comparison: Is there a level playing field for the work required, and how does the ROI compare?
  • Understanding project risk: At what point are investors ready to take the plunge? How does this vary by institution?
  • In search of yield: Where do investors see value in the market?
Moderator
Speakers
Session ends: 16:15
16:15
Structured Finance as a solution to Latin America’s infrastructure needs for government related and private developers: How to align evolving projects requirements with a change in appetite for long-term local currency deals amongst lenders and investors?
  • Managing local currency revenues and USD funding needs: incorporating hedges into the structure to reconcile the currency mismatch
  • Structuring project risk: How to efficiently allocate project risk between developers, sponsors, lenders and investors
  • The business case for accessing the capital markets: Diversifying the funding base, extending maturities and attracting liquidity
  • An overview of PPP frameworks: When Public-Private Partnerships work - success stories and pitfalls to avoid
  • Assessing the bankability of concessions and off-take agreements: How should governments approach and design a regulatory landscape and framework that make PPPs work?
  • Incorporating capital markets into the PPP framework: What safeguards need to be put in place in order to manage market windows?
Moderator
Speakers
Session ends: 17:00
16:15

Session ends: 17:00
17:00
Chairman’s closing remarks followed by networking cocktail reception
Speakers
  • David Gonzalez, Managing Director & Head of Project & Structured Finance, Latin America and the Caribbean, SMBC

Session ends: 17:10

For speaking opportunities contact:

Kate McAtamney