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Course

Fundamentals of Project Finance

The goal of this course is to equip participants with an overview of project finance by taking them through all stages of a project finance transaction, with an emphasis on risk analysis, risk mitigation and capital structuring issues, so they can apply the techniques in reviewing project finance transactions.

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BST, 18 - 19 May 2026Virtual ClassroomDubai, 28 - 29 Sep 2026Virtual ClassroomLondon, 21 - 22 Oct 2026In-person ClassroomEDT, 21 - 22 Oct 2026Virtual ClassroomBST, 23 - 24 Nov 2026Virtual ClassroomSGT, 03 - 04 Dec 2026Virtual Classroom

Select from the dropdown list to explore course locations, delivery methods, dates, and prices.

Skills You
Will Gain

Review of the characteristics of a project finance vs other debt financing options

Understanding a typical project finance contractual structure

Applying a structured and systematic approach to financing projects using some of the techniques of project finance

Recognizing the key characteristics of a robust project and identifying the weakest links in the transaction

Using qualitative and quantitative tools and measures to distinguish the key risks

Interpreting each of the key risks to determine their severity and potential impact on the transaction structure

Appreciating how the mechanisms in the transaction documents operate to protect the creditors and evaluate the protection provided

Developing a financing structure that recognizes the objectives of key stakeholders in a project

Building a credit rationale to make and substantiate financing decisions

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Who
Should Attend

It has been assumed that participants will have limited practical knowledge of project finance, but participants should already have some knowledge of financial analysis, the key features of banking products and commercial aspects of banking documentation. It will also be assumed that participants are familiar with investment appraisal techniques such as IRR and NPV. An understanding of the basic principles of company valuation will be helpful.

Course
Content

Download Overview

Module
Module
Introduction

This session will provide participants with an overview of the key features of project finance vs other financing options, the principal areas in which project finance is used, parties involved and the typical contractual structure.

Overview of project finance

  • Key characteristics of project finance and factors influencing the choice of project finance vs. other debt financing options
  • The principal sectors for project finance transactions
  • Project finance and public private partnerships
  • Project finance vs the financing of projects

Key stakeholders in a project finance, their objectives and principal performance criteria

  • Measures used by investors: Payback period, net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR)
  • Measures used by lenders: Leverage, debt service, loan life, project life cover ratios and economic rationale
  • Cost to the user: Value for money and affordability
  • Non-financial objectives such as environmental and social impact
  • Examples of how selected organizations utilize project finance, including the use of public private partnerships by public sector organizations
  • Discussion: overview of a project finance discussion to illustrate the contractual structure
Module
Module
Assessing the Risks

Based on the Fitch Ratings methodology for Infrastructure and project finance criteria, the aim of this session is to identify and discuss the main project risks in a project finance transaction.

  • Overview of the key risk categories in a Project Finance structure and typical mitigants
  • Exercise: Discussion of risks in selected transactions and in different business sectors to illustrate some lessons of experience

Macro risks: how will a project be impacted by the environment in which it is operating?

  • Country, political and regulatory risks
  • Macroeconomic risks and understanding their impact on project risks
  • Industry risks
  • Social-environmental exposures, and typical components of an environmental, social and governance (ESG) evaluation
  • Event risk and force majeure and potential impact on project viability

Completion risk: will the project be completed on time and within budget to the required specifications?

  • Contractors: Attributes of strong contractors, and contract vs contractor risk
  • Cost structure: Contracts, budgets and allocation of costs
  • Delay risk and contract terms: Capacity to accommodate delays and transferring risk
  • Technology risk: factors which increase technological risk
  • The role of advisers and the basis for main assumptions on technical feasibility and costs and revenues

Operational risk: how predictable are the revenue and cost profile of a project?

  • Revenue risk/Off -take: How reliable is the revenue stream? Demand risk arising from multiple payers
  • Supply risk: Quality and price of resources and products required for operation
  • Operator: uncovering risk related to the operator including performance, reputation and financial position
  • Technology risk: exposure to technological change
  • Costs: Makeup, timing and potential volatility of operating costs
  • Early termination risk: Events which may lead to termination pre-maturity and lenders’ step-in rights. General principles of dealing with compensation for debt and equity providers in the event of termination of project concessions
  • Counterparty risks: Risks relating to key parties to a project
  • Case study: Participants review background on the core case study project and produce a credit rating for the project

Module
Module
Financial Analysis

The project financial statements and review of key assumptions – are the assumptions realistic? What are the key drivers of financial viability?

  • Are the assumptions realistic?
  • Key elements in the structure of project finance spreadsheets
  • The principal financial measures to assess potential financial viability: DSCR, LLCR, PLCR, IRR, NPV, cost to the user and value for money
  • Lessons from the past: what can be learned from past transactions about the value of forecasts and feasibility studies?
  • Exercise: Review of data for the core case study project and sensitizing key forecast assumptions in the context of financing needs and developing a base case for the operating (pre finance) performance of the core Project Finance case study and key sensitivities
Module
Module
Capital Structuring

The objective of this session is to provide an overview of the key factors influencing the capital structure and financing choices for a project finance transaction.

Debt perspective: Debt service, capital structure and counterparty risk – what is the desired capital structure and optimum sources of finance? Currency and interest rate exposure.

Determining the project’s capacity to generate stable cash flow to service the debt levels: key components.

  • What are the underlying operational and financing assumptions
  • Interest and currency exposures
  • Debt profile: Amount, term, amortization schedule, currency and interest rate exposures
  • Assessing the project debt service capability using DSCR (debt service cover ratio), LLCR (loan life cover ratio), PLCR (project life cover ratio)
  • Counterparty risks: Creditworthiness and structural features to mitigate risk, and potential use of credit enhancement
  • Exercise: Calculation of DSCR, LLCR and PLCR
  • Exercise: Participants develop a suggested debt structure for a core case study project

Project finance: equity providers’ perspective

  • Types of equity investors and their approach
  • Risk and return: cost of capital and valuation issues
  • Understanding the equity investor’s approach to achieving returns from the project company, including operating relationships with the project company, and cash extraction through re-financing
  • Exercise: Calculation, and discussion, of returns for selected types of projects
  • Exercise: Participants refine the capital structure for the core case study project to develop a capital structure that meets the financing needs of both debt and equity providers
Module
Module
Credit Protections in a Project Finance Transaction

The objective of this session is to provide an intensive overview of the principal contractual risk mitigations in a project finance transaction from a debt perspective.

Debt structure: Documentation – key elements of the potential structural protections in debt documentation.

Assessing the appropriateness of the capital structure and features of the debt structure.

  • Security and creditor rights
  • Payment waterfall
  • Collateral and assignment of contract rights
  • Rights of the controlling classes, inter-creditor issues
  • Structural features
  • Debt service covenants
  • Reserve accounts, cash sweeps, profit distribution controls
  • Refinancing risk
  • Choice of law; use of arbitration and legal vs commercial position in terms of enforceability of contracts
  • Exercise/discussion: Review of a summarized term sheet for the core case study project

Upcoming
Dates

28 - 29 Sep 20262 DaysVirtual ClassroomDubai2295 GBP
03 - 04 Dec 20262 DaysVirtual ClassroomSGT2795 USD
21 - 22 Oct 20262 DaysIn-person ClassroomLondon2295 GBP
18 - 19 May 20262 DaysVirtual ClassroomBST1895 GBP
23 - 24 Nov 20262 DaysVirtual ClassroomBST1895 GBP
21 - 22 Oct 20262 DaysVirtual ClassroomEDT2795 USD
28 Sep 2026 - 29 Sep 2026
In-person classroom
Dubai
GBP2295
3 Dec 2026 - 4 Dec 2026
Virtual Classroom
SGT
USD2795
21 Oct 2026 - 22 Oct 2026
In-person classroom
London
GBP2295
18 May 2026 - 19 May 2026
Virtual Classroom
BST
GBP1895
23 Nov 2026 - 24 Nov 2026
Virtual Classroom
BST
GBP1895
21 Oct 2026 - 22 Oct 2026
Virtual Classroom
EDT
USD2795

Frequently
Asked Questions

All courses start at 9am and end at 5pm.

Our courses are designed to be both engaging and flexible, offering a mix of classroom and virtual options to accommodate different preferences. Virtual classroom courses are via Zoom. The courses range from 1 to 5 days in duration, providing an immersive learning experience that is both interactive and case study-based. This approach ensures that participants can apply practical insights to real-world scenarios. The sessions are conducted by experienced trainers who were previously industry practitioners, bringing a wealth of knowledge and firsthand expertise to the training environment.

Most delegates who attend our courses in the UK are able to claim back their VAT once it has been paid. The below information details why we need to charge VAT and how you can claim it back. Why does Fitch Learning charge VAT? The EU VAT Directive (Council Directive 2006/112/EC) article 53 says that for the right of entry to cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment or similar events in exchange for a ticket or payment, the place of supply is where the event physically takes place. Since, the event is held in the UK, the place of supply is the UK and therefore UK VAT has to be charged. How can you claim back the VAT you paid for a course? The most efficient way to claim back VAT is directly through the UK’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by completing the required forms and sending back to HMRC. Please visit this link for more information. To claim back VAT or if you have any questions please contact HMRC; Telephone - 0044 (0) 3000 537 381 Email Overseas Repayment Unit - enq.oru.ni@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.

You will receive joining instructions two weeks before the course start date, as long as we have received payment in advance of this. Is there pre-course reading? In order to optimize class time we ask participants to read some background information on the main illustration case(s) prior to attending the class. This also helps to ensure that all are able to participate in case discussions. In some cases additional background reading is provided. The length of pre-course reading is advised to participants in advance and typically ranges from 2-3 hours. You will need to bring a laptop or tablet to the course in order to access the course materials, as these will only be available electronically.

Can I pay via an invoice? Yes. We will issue you an invoice, if requested at the point of booking. When do I need to pay? If your company is paying your invoice for you, your company will have 30 days in which to process it. If you are paying for the course yourself, you will need to pay before attendance. What’s the accepted payment methods? We accept bank transfers or payments via Mastercard, Visa or Amex (except Euro payments).

The EU VAT Directive (Council Directive 2006/112/EC) article 53 says that for the right of entry to cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment or similar events in exchange for a ticket or payment, the place of supply is where the event physically takes place. Based on this, we need to charge the appropriate Tax/VAT in each country we provide classroom based courses. The current rate of 20% VAT is added to courses taking place in London, 19% in Frankfurt, 9% in Singapore and 5% in Dubai. In other locations we may need to charge a sales tax although not currently for New York.

If I am unable to attend can I send a substitute? Absolutely and it is completely free of charge. We do however ask that we have at least 2 working days’ notice of this change before the course start date. Please email enquiry@fitchlearning.com with full contact details of the substitute and who they are replacing. Can I transfer my booked course to another date? Yes you can. If you email us your request to transfer to the next available course date and give us more than 30 days’ notice, there will be no charge. If you notify us within 30 days of the course start date, there will be an additional payment of 25% of the course fee, provided the original course fee has been paid in full. A transfer can only be made onto a course taking place within a period of 6 months of the original course date and only one transfer can be made in respect of any booking. Can I cancel my course booking? If you email us with your request more than 30 days before the course start date, there will be no charge. If you notify us within 30 days of the course start date you are liable for the full course fees. What happens if I do not attend my course? If you do not attend your course and you do not give us any prior notice you are liable for the full course fee and no refunds can be given. Notice contact details: Email: enquiry@fitchlearning.com.

We are unable to send anything more than our standard course communication. This communication will detail the course you are attending, the location and dates, so it will provide you with all of the information you require to submit a visa application.

No, we do not typically record a public course session. The only time we will record a session, is if a delegate is receiving funding and this is a requirement of the funding provider. In these cases, the recording is only shared with the funding provider and delegates do not receive a copy.

Complimentary
GICP Membership

Enrolling in a Fitch Learning course automatically includes complimentary membership to the Global Institute of Credit Professionals (GICP). This membership provides access to industry resources designed to accelerate your career growth and enhance your expertise. Connect with a global community of finance professionals, discover lifelong learning opportunities and gain the recognition that sets you apart. Elevate your professional development with the GICP, all as part of your course investment.

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