80755 March 2010 Developed for WBI’s Program on Public-Private Partnerships and the World Bank Group’s Global Expert Team on PPPs The U.K. Treasury Infrastructure Finance Unit: Supporting PPP Financing During the Global Liquidity Crisis by Ed Farquharson and Javier Encinas Summary provide a solution that would encourage banks 2008 and 2009 were challenging years to raise to resume their long-term financing of projects. finance for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) In March 2009, the Treasury created The Infra- and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes in structure Finance Unit (TIFU) with the objective the UK. The number of active lenders in the of lending to PFI projects on the same terms as market was significantly reduced, and those that commercial lenders in the event that insufficient remained toughened their positions. A number private sector lending was available. of projects found it more difficult to reach This was successful in helping to inject confi- financial close, and those that did close found dence back into the market, as witnessed by that previously offered terms were no longer the fact that projects have continued to be available. financed since the onset of the credit crisis. HM Treasury’s response was to ensure that TIFU has only needed to lend once so far, but its projects went forward as planned, despite presence means that banks that were prepared unfavorable financial market conditions, while to lend as part of a club deal would be able to also seeking to ensure appropriate risk transfer do so even if others were no longer able to do on acceptable terms overall. After some so, and that as a result the project would get analysis, it was decided to focus on addressing to financial closure. However, despite this and the underlying problem of liquidity and to some stabilization of the wider lending markets, Graph 1. Evolution of signed PFI projects and capital value by financial to 2007 120 16,000 99 14,000 93 100 84 86 80 Capital value (£ millions) 12,000 Number of projects 69 80 10,000 63 57 60 55 54 60 8,000 6,000 34 40 4,000 12 20 2,000 5 2 2 1 2 0 0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Capital value in £m Number of projects Copyright © 2010 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. All rights reserved. 2 PPP Solutions | March 2010 the PFI market remains fragile, and margins and Decline of the monolines other lending terms remain less attractive by During the period up to 2008, the ‘monoline’ (albeit highly competitive) 2005/06 standards, credit insurers played an increasingly important and are expected to remain so for some time. role in the provision of cheap long-term bond The monolines that had been active in assisting finance as an alternative source of long-term the financing of PPPs had given projects access finance to bank lending. Monolines are to the capital markets. Following the exit of insurance companies whose sole product is a monolines from the market, a solution still needs guarantee to investors of timely payment of to be found to connect PPP projects to institu- principal and interest in exchange for a fee, tional investors and the capital markets, and to a process known as ‘wrapping’. By wrapping provide a viable additional source of long-term a bond issued by a PFI project company, the funding to that of bank financing of PPPs. monolines converted the marginal investment Recently, HM Treasury announced that it grade credit rating of the project debt to a would bring together of TIFU, the program triple-A rating and therefore gave access to a and project delivery team of Partnerships UK, wide pool of investors at a competitive cost. and the Treasury PPP Policy Unit into a single Some of the early victims of the credit crunch entity, Infrastructure UK (IUK), which will focus were the monoline insurers who were perceived on the next stage of U.K. infrastructure devel- to have taken on risks in other sectors (not PFI) opment. One of IUK’s early tasks is to identify that severely impacted their credit ratings. Of new sources of private sector infrastructure six companies with triple-A ratings in 2007, investment. four have since fallen below investment grade, materially impacting their business model, The evolution of market conditions and the remaining two have merged to form since 2007 one company with a split Aa3/AAA rating. The The U.K.’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) reduction of the industry to a single participant program has played an important role in the with a strong investment grade rating has procurement and delivery of public services effectively removed this important source since the early 90’s. By 2007, more than 870 of long-term debt funding, upon which the projects worth £65.5bn had been procured as majority of projects with a debt requirement of PFIs1 (see graph 1). The program benefited from over £100m had come to rely. an increasingly competitive finance market with access to fixed rate, long term finance from both Retreat of the banks the banks and capital markets. Maturities of up At the same time, most banks, particularly to 40 years were possible and lending margins those with limited retail deposits, were finding it were as low as 75 basis points over gilts. For increasingly difficult to source funding for their instance, just prior to the onset of the credit own long term lending operations, even for crisis, the Manor Hospital PFI in Walsall reached PFI projects where the risks were relatively low financial close in November 2007 with senior and well understood. Graph 2, which shows the FSA-wrapped bonds worth just over £160m and evolution of LIBOR (essentially the rate at which a tenor of around 33 years (maturing in 2041), in banks will lend to each other) over this period addition to £15m-worth of variation bonds. The illustrates the rapid deterioration in the inter- bonds were priced at 93.2 bps over gilts due to bank lending market at that time: the AAA rating of the FSA wrap. The impact on bank lending for PFI projects However in the course of 2008, conditions manifested itself in a number of ways: in the long term credit markets started to deteriorate considerably due to the onset of • Reduced number of lenders: A number the global credit crunch. This impacted the PFI of banks withdrew altogether from the program in two important ways. provision of long term finance to new PFI projects. Some of these were overseas banks who retreated to their priority 1 www.partnershipsuk.org/puk-projects-database-search. domestic markets. aspx The U.K. Treasury Infrastructure Finance Unit: Supporting PPP Financing During the Global Liquidity Crisis 3 Graph 2. Evolution of LIBOR (the rate at which banks will lend to each other) 7.0 6.5 Overnight of LIBOR rate 6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 4.0 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 8 08 08 8 8 08 Ju 8 Ju 8 8 ug 8 8 Se 08 08 O 08 08 00 04 200 18 200 00 00 00 0 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 0 20 22 20 20 2 l2 l2 l2 2 2 n n n b b ar ar pr pr ay ay n n ug p p ct ct Ju Ja Ja Ja Ju Ju Fe Fe Se O M M A A M M A A 02 16 30 02 16 30 09 23 08 13 27 10 24 12 26 13 27 07 21 Chart 1. Evolution of debt margins for U.K. PFI projects 300 300 275 263 250 250 200 170 165 150 135 100 100 99 100 95 94 86 88 82 80 78 69 63 58 50 to December 2007 to May 2008 to August 2008 to October 2008 to July 2009 Actual low Average high Average low Actual high Source: Ernst and Young. • Complexity and delay in reaching financial as each bank sought individually to agree close: The process by which many banks had the terms of its lending. hitherto been prepared to accept lending • Higher lending margins: Margins for lending terms agreed by a smaller group for each increased substantially, rising from around project ceased. This meant that securing the 80 basis points pre-crisis to over 300 basis commitment of a group of banks became a points in mid 2009 for relatively straight- much slower and more complicated process forward PFI projects with similar risks, threat- 4 PPP Solutions | March 2010 ening their affordability. The chart below TIFU’s lending is intended to be a temporary, illustrates the increase in senior bank debt reversible, and ‘last resort’ intervention. The margins from December 2007 to July 2009. Treasury’s intention is to supplement bank/ • Reduced tenor: The maturity of debt also capital market funding, where it is available on reduced significantly, raising risk and acceptable terms, not to replace it or crowd it impacting returns for equity investors out. The Treasury envisages selling the loans from the uncertainty of having to secure it makes prior to their maturity when favorable replacement funding or lower cost funding market conditions return, which reinforces the sometimes as soon as 5 years after imperative that its finance is done on commer- financial close. cially recognizable terms. • Accumulation of projects seeking finance: The U.K. Government faced a pipeline of Structure over 110 PFI projects worth £13bn, many The Treasury decided that creating a co-lending of which were encountering difficulties facility was the most practical response to in securing finance. These projects were the credit crisis. The option of delegating the already in procurement, and a key part of management of the facility to a commercial the U.K. Government’s investment plans. bank or even establishing a separate institution The problem was potentially cumulative, was considered. However, given (i) the fact as the backlog of projects was mounting, that Treasury wished to retain the flexibility of the chief difficulty being that financing was TIFU as a potentially, though not necessarily, taking longer to arrange as club deals had temporary solution for what may turn out to be a become the norm. temporary liquidity problem and (ii) the need for an urgent response (TIFU made its first loan only 5 weeks after its creation), a co-lending facility The U.K. government response to the crisis based and managed within the government From late 2008 to early 2009 HM Treasury worked rather than a third party was believed to be the with Partnerships UK (PUK), individual authorities most appropriate response. and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop a range of solutions to help PFI schemes Operation reach financial close. The initial approach was Although TIFU is a Treasury-based unit to consider a series of different but traditional accountable to Ministers and wholly funded by measures, including making larger public capital Treasury, its lending activities are similar to those contributions, guaranteeing bank lending and of any commercial bank. TIFU has a staff of up increasing EIB funding (these options are briefly to 7 professionals with substantial private sector discussed in box 1). However the underlying project finance experience. They consider appli- problem was one of liquidity, not of the quality cations for loans to PFI projects, negotiate the or risk allocation of the project themselves. What terms of any such loans on a commercial basis, was needed was a solution that would encourage and monitor and manage the loan portfolio, the banks to resume their long term financing of like a bank. TIFU has its own due diligence these projects, and to do so quickly. procedures and an internal credit committee composed of Treasury officials and independent The Infrastructure Finance Unit (TIFU) banking professionals. HM Treasury’s response in March 2009 was the establishment of The Infrastructure Finance Lending policy Unit (TIFU) whose objective was to lend to PFI The main concerns that were considered with projects that could not raise sufficient debt the creation of TIFU were (i) the danger of finance on acceptable terms. TIFU would lend crowding out private lending, (ii) distorting alongside commercial banks and the European the market, (iii) being able to exit its lending Investment Bank (EIB).2 positions, and (iv) managing conflicts of interest with the public sector acting both as lender 2 For more information, visit www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ and project counterparty. In response to these ppp_tifu_index.htm. concerns, TIFU has a very clear mandate to act The U.K. Treasury Infrastructure Finance Unit: Supporting PPP Financing During the Global Liquidity Crisis 5 Box 1: Potential Remedial Actions by Government Capital contributions† also be significant fiscal implications as a result of the Governments can provide up-front payments for PPPs contingent liabilities that result from this approach. in the form of capital contributions. This can improve the financeability of the remaining reduced private MFI funding portion of capital raised. Such payments may also allow Multilateral finance institutions (MFIs) are important different public entities to adjust their respective contri- sources of stability and market development, and as butions (for example, up-front payment by a central institutions in their own right may bring as much of Government authority and a reduced unitary charge for the lender due diligence and monitoring disciplines the local authority in the case of availability payment– as private-sector lenders. Indeed, given their public based PPPs). mission, they may also be sources of further policy However, the obvious drawbacks of capital contri- support and quality control in PPPs over and above butions are their permanent up-front nature (i.e. once those required by commercial lenders. MFIs, as publicly paid in they are not subsequently repaid by the project). owned entities, fall into this category—the European Furthermore, when they represent a significant part Investment Bank (EIB), for example, has a portfolio of of the total financing, they may distort the balance of over €29 billion of PPP projects across the European risks, as the project risks have to be borne by a smaller Union.‡ Clearly the quantum of funding is determined private element: some of the financial benefit of the by MFI policies. “free” public contribution may therefore be offset by increased private funding costs. Finally, they can raise Public sector co-lending facilities potentially difficult inter-creditor issues and unwanted Under this model, the public sector meets funding short- risk transfers, notably in case of default, where the falls through loans which may or may not be on identical public sector may require a repayment of some, or all, terms to those offered by commercial banks. In some of its contribution. cases, the public sector lender may require additional guarantees or assume fewer risks. Sometimes the under- Public sector guarantees lying principle may be that these loans will be sold back Another approach to mobilizing long-term private- into the market as and when conditions “normalize” sector debt funding is sometimes achieved through (TIFU, discussed in more detail, is such an example). The the public authority itself guaranteeing repayment of drivers can vary, responding either to perceptions of a portion of the project debt, even if the cause of the longer term market failure in the provision of long-term potential default lies with the private-sector partner— finance to more stimulative, market shaping, temporary this is known as “debt underpinning.” policy responses. This approach may be part of a program to help The model is not without challenges for the public stimulate the development of long-term sources of sector, however not least the practicality of establishing private-sector funding (it may also reduce the overall and managing an experienced lending unit or insti- cost of funding to the project), while at the same time tution, the risk of crowding out (when is a shortfall a the portion that is guaranteed may be unlikely to be shortfall), and the implication of selling down public affected if the project gets into difficulty. It is important stakes in due course, or in some cases the limitations on that the level of the un-guaranteed portion of the debt the risks that can be accepted, not to mention the fiscal is a sufficient incentive to ensure that the lenders will implications for funding such a facility or institution in have enough of their own funds at risk to the perfor- the first place. mance of the project and thus ensure that they carry † For more information on potential remedial actions, read EPEC’s out proper project due diligence and management of report on “The Financial Crisis and the PPP Market” August 2009. project performance, a fundamental principle of PPPs. ‡ For more information on EIB lending, visit www.eib.org. This requires balancing the realities of the market and the strategic aim to encourage market development with the potential disincentives that debt underpinning may create for effective risk transfer. Clearly, as with any government guarantee mechanism, there may 6 PPP Solutions | March 2010 as a taker of price and terms from the market Although TIFU’s presence on certain deals and to accede to the inter-creditor arrange- may be useful for pricing, its intention is to ments and protect its loans like any other lender. address a liquidity—not a pricing—problem in TIFU therefore considers lending where: the market. There is a bias against intervening on cost grounds alone, and TIFU has not yet lent in • A project cannot secure sufficient finance to response to unacceptable private sector terms. reach financial close on a timely basis; In terms of balance sheet treatment, TIFU • The proposed private sector funding is loans would be treated as government assets not representative of terms and conditions like any other government loan, but this would generally available in the market; or not alone determine the public sector balance • A project is at risk of delay due to lack of sheet treatment of the recipient PPP project. genuine funder engagement. Scope Although TIFU can fund up to 100% of the TIFU was established to support the 110 PFI debt finance required for a project, it prefers the schemes that were already in procurement, private sector to raise all or most of the project although other PFI projects can also be debt and expects equity investors to continue eligible with Treasury approval. TIFU does bearing the primary risk in these projects. TIFU not engage before the preferred bidder offers long-term loans on either a fixed rate or stage of a project (i.e. it cannot support any a floating rate basis, matching the same fees, one particular bidder against another) and pricing and tenor as other commercial lenders. it can only be approached via the procuring It can also participate in or provide standard authority and any relevant Ministry (i.e. not by ancillary lending facilities for PFI projects. the private sector bidder or banks). Box 2: Greater Manchester Waste Management PFI Summary and NIBC—were in place to underwrite the deal and The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority act as joint mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) with each (GMWDA) project is the largest waste PFI contract envisaging an equal part of the commercial debt facility. in Western Europe, treating over 1.4 million tons of However, a combination of (i) the size of the project, municipal waste per annum (c. 5% of the U.K. total) in a (ii) its complexity (there were a range of non-standard contract worth over £4bn during the 25 year concession, issues arising from the twin SPV approach), (iii) particular involving a capital investment of £795m. credit crunch issues affecting some of the original underwriting banks, and (iv) the timing of the credit The project crunch in relation to the project (the project was seeking The GMWDA project achieved financial close in April to close at one of the most difficult points in the cycle), 2009. The structure, with two SPVs working side by meant that as the credit crunch took hold, sources of side, involved one being responsible for the production funding had to come from a wider pool. This eventually of fuel from waste and the other for disposing of involved EIB, capital contributions from the authority, in the fuel. The project included building/refurbishing addition to the senior debt and TIFU. and operating some 44 different facilities including The financing structure had a 79:21 debt to equity biological treatment plants, material recovery facilities, ratio. Debt tenor for the deal was 23.5 years, with the composting plants, transfer loading stations and debt margin ranging from 325bps during construction, household waste recycling centres throughout the with margin ratchets every five years during operation, Greater Manchester region. starting at 335bps rising to 450bps after year 16 to maturity. As with most PFI projects, there were no History of the financing additional guarantees supporting the debt and the When Viridor Laing was announced as preferred commercial banks still remain key long term lenders to bidder in January 2007, two banks—Bank of Ireland the project. The U.K. Treasury Infrastructure Finance Unit: Supporting PPP Financing During the Global Liquidity Crisis 7 Market reaction needs careful judgment and close and The message sent by the Government with continuous understanding of the market. the creation of the TIFU was welcomed by the While the PFI market does show signs of market. This message was reinforced when recovery, it remains fragile, and margins and TIFU completed its first, and so far only, deal in other terms remain less attractive by the April 2009, providing a £120 million loan for the strongly competitive 2005/06 standards, with Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority’s fewer banks in the market. Identifying and diver- (GMWDA) PFI project alongside the EIB and a sifying sources of long term private financing group of commercial banks (see box 2). In this for infrastructure remains a core longer term project a major lender pulled out at a critical challenge for which TIFU is by no means a moment near financial close, and without the comprehensive answer. This thinking lies partly financing provided by TIFU, the project could behind the Treasury’s decision to establish Infra- well have lost momentum and unraveled. TIFU structure U.K. has also shadowed several other projects in case a financing shortfall arose, but none of The future—Infrastructure UK (IUK) these required TIFU support (including the M25 In December 2009, the Chancellor of the project with a capital value twice the size the Exchequer announced in the Pre-Budget Report GMWDA) because private sector financing, that a new entity, Infrastructure UK (IUK), would alongside an EIB facility, proved sufficient. take on the role to advise the Government on The overall performance of TIFU should strategic long-term infrastructure planning, be measured by its impact on the market as prioritization, financing and delivery across a whole. Douglas Segars, Director at Partner- sectors from energy and waste, to water, ships UK commented “As an immediate effect, telecommunications and transport.3 IUK’s focus the participation of TIFU in the funding of the is therefore on economic—as well as social— Greater Manchester Waste project gave the infrastructure. The Chancellor gave IUK a Government’s initiative credibility, and provided number of immediate objectives, including: confidence to the PPP/PFI market that the commitment was being delivered.” 1) Developing a strategy for the UK’s infra- Adrian Ringrose, Chairman of the Public structure over the next five to 50 years; Service Strategy Board at the Confederation 2) Identifying and attracting new sources of of British Industry agreed by saying, “What the private sector investment; creation of TIFU did was to encourage other 3) Managing the UK’s investment in the EIB’s lenders back into the PFI market. It created a Marguerite climate change infrastructure fresh buzz of competition and helped instill fund; and much-needed confidence into the market. That 4) Providing support to HM Treasury and has led to 13 PFI deals being completed since Department for Energy and Climate July. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that the market Change with their work to determine how also at times expressed concern that TIFU could the U.K. electricity market framework can be used unfairly to compete with the banks. most effectively deliver the low-carbon Over time, however, the way in which TIFU has investment needed in the long-term. operated in practice has calmed these fears and this reflects the fact that fundamentally TIFU is To achieve these goals, IUK will bring an instrument to encourage the banks to lend, together, under the Treasury umbrella, the not to replace them. In particular the presence program and project delivery capability of of TIFU has provided confidence to banks who PUK, the lending capability of TIFU, and the were prepared to lend in the event that the full policy development capability of the Treasury club could not, or that one of the club members PPP policy team. IUK will give the Treasury a had to reduce their exposure (due to liquidity fluid structure that allows the movement of concerns). In other words, it meant that banks expertise among each of the groups. This that were prepared to lend would be able to, even if others could not. But it means that the 3 For more information, visit www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ management of this sort of policy instrument ppp_infrastructureuk.htm 8 PPP Solutions | March 2010 development has generally been welcomed by Introducing the PPP Solutions series the market, which sees it as helping to ensure a greater level of coordination and long term PPP Solutions is a new series of practitioner- planning across a wider range of infrastructure focused notes sponsored by the World Bank sectors. As part of IUK, TIFU will retain its Institute’s PPP Practice (WBIPP) and the World lending function for as long as is necessary— Bank Group’s Global Expert Team on PPPs there is no set date or explicit condition for (GETPPP). its termination, and it will enable the finance specialists in TIFU to support the Government PPP Solutions provides practical analysis and across a wider range of infrastructure. descriptions of new or emerging approaches in finance, regulation, legal and market struc- This note has been prepared by Ed Farqu- turing, contract and transaction design, policy harson, Project Director, and Javier Encinas, frameworks, and environmental and institutional Manager, both of Partnerships UK. This note sustainability of PPPs. reflects Partnerships UK’s views of HMT’s policy and not HMT policy itself. WBIPP is a global connector of PPP practi- tioners, providing opportunities for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, South-South learning and harvesting innovations in PPPs, and providing accessible knowledge and global best practices on PPPs. The GETPPP is a virtual unit of leading experts based throughout the World Bank Group who offer a wide breadth of experience in all aspects of the design and implementation of PPPs. The GETPPP’s mission is to provide real-time support, based on global experience, to internal and external World Bank clients as they build and implement the most appropriate struc- tures for basic service provision in such sectors as transport, energy, water and sanitation, telecommunications, extractive industries, water resources, health and education, and others. The Global PPP Network is an online platform for the growing community of PPP practitioners to come together and exchange knowledge, discuss, learn, and connect around global best practices on PPPs. Join the network at www. pppnetwork.info. For more information, contact Clive Harris, Practice Manager, Public-Private Partnerships, World Bank Institute, at charris@worldbank.org. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions of this note are the authors’ own and should not be attributed to the World Bank, its affiliated organizations, members of the Board, or the countries they represent.