Project Finance Perils - Navigating your way to Successful Project Finance
The "S.S. Project Finance"
Yes, this is a ship. But it is not an ordinary ship. There is an analogy between this ship and your project.
This WWII merchant vessel faced the odds of survival by leaving the safe shores of a free country, fully
loaded with badly needed supplies and armed with only a few 5" guns, braving the oceans of danger, facing
the probable perils of storms, submarines, aircraft, war ships, minefields and many other hostile forces...
and it DID NOT HAVE A CONVOY (a pre-existing business allowing corporate finance) TO JOIN to protect it.
You are in the same situation...you are on your own...a single vessel crossing a dangerous ocean...and it
may be your first trip along this route.
You and Your Project are doing the same thing as this WWII commercial vessel in wartime. The difference is
that your ship is your project, loaded with proforma returns and benefits and armed with a few good ideas,
determination and persistence. You have invested your money in the cargo and are betting on the
successful delivery of the goods. Your ocean is financing and the charted course appears to be project
finance as the only feasible route. Danger lurks everywhere. Any of the hostile forces you may encounter
during the passage can and may sink your ship. Many have been sunk before. This particular ocean bottom
is littered with the evidence of many failed crossing attempts. But you cannot afford that nor do you desire
failure. You want a successful passage.
The storms of due diligence, the torpedoes of unknowns suddenly being discovered time and again during
the voyage, the minefields of financing structures and participations, it all awaits you...and here you
are...having just completed your preliminary feasibility study... it looks good now (in a safe port) and you
are full of hope and optimism. But you now have to get the project from concept (the friendly loading port)
to reality (the friendly discharge port). In between is the difficult journey across the project finance ocean
you must face to get to the other side. The questions are... are you ready?... and will you make it?
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Although you may have access to scores of consultants (pilots) to help you navigate the reefs, do you have
a combat veteran, a master mariner who has personally sailed his own ship on the same ocean under the
same conditions and has successfully delivered the goods? One who knows when and where to expect the
torpedoes, dive bombers, and other perils, and more importantly, how to protect your ship (project) from
same?
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If you are interested in having a combat veteran on your ship saving your project precious time, money, and
possibly its very existence for both the short and long-term, contact me for a Confidential and Free
Evaluation of your project. An honest assessment could be one way to safely chart your course for a
successful passage. Nov 96
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Project Finance Perils - Navigating Your Way to Successful Project Finance - June 1996
