Project Finance Associate

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Main purpose of the role:
The Project Finance Associate assists the project team by advising, structuring, and implementing project finance structures for renewable energy projects in South Africa and for certain African geographies.
In accordance with the level of maturity of the project(s), the Project Finance Associate will be responsible for:
- Financial modelling
- Financing process
- Due diligence
- Internal investment processes

Key responsibilities:
Financial modelling
- Build and run financial models for internal needs (project evaluation in development phase) or external needs (bid preparation and submission, financial close, project finance implementation, and refinancing of projects).
- Identify and quantify the parameters allowing for economic and financial optimisations.
- Test and ensure quality of modelling and outputs from internal team members (e.g. analyst) or external advisors.
- Coordinate the modelling workstream, including managing contract(s) with external financial advisors.
- Assist with any model related queries (e.g. from the various internal teams, from the offtaker, banks, and/or other third parties).

Financing process
- Review and analyse project documentation as it relates to the project financing
- Guide the project team regarding bankability of a project, including on key project agreements (PPA, EPC, O&M, insurance, Shareholder Agreements) and risk mitigation measures (e.g., financial risk insurance, sizing of contractual penalties etc.).
- Define and manage the schedule for the project funding workstream in coordination with the project team.
- Coordinate and manage the financial advisors and other related consultants of the projects
- Engage with lenders and prepare information materials for the lenders selection process.
- Compare funding proposals, identify related risks and identify/recommend optimal funding structure.
- Participate in the structuring, negotiation and implementation of all financing agreements and operations until Financial Close of the project.
- Monitor and manage the condition precedents to an effectiveness and/or drawdowns.
- Assist in implementing the hedging/mitigation strategies.
- In collaboration with the Middle Office team, coordinate any actions to be implemented after Financial Close.

Due diligence
- Organise and manage the financial aspect of the due diligence process
- Define the scope of work and manage engagements with external advisors (finance advisors, legal, model auditors).

Internal process
- Ensure that all finance related material is prepared in line with the Group Investment and Financing Guidelines.
- Prepare information on financing aspects and support the Project Management team in the decision-making process (i.e., Board of Directors, investment committee etc.).

Other ad hoc responsibilities may include:
- Market monitoring to provide the company with access to the latest market trends, products, funding options.
- Banks monitoring and engagement (countries, organisation).
- Any other duties that will contribute to the success of the company’s business as instructed from time to time by management.

Health and Safety Responsibilities:
Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control, and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e., public, visitors and employees of other organizations. This includes ensuring risk assessments are conducted and mitigation measures are clearly communicated and understood by individuals. Managers must also ensure that individuals have the necessary understanding, competence, and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees are responsible for ensuring they fully understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly, where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and particularly where there are legal requirements, employees are responsible for understanding those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

The position reports directly into:
Head of Project Finance
The position reports functionally into (if applicable):
Group organization: Functional reporting line to Project Finance team in Paris (headquarters)
Project organization: the Project Finance Associate will be a member of Project teams (as part of the Finance workstream), in bidding or closing phase
The position has the following functional reports (if applicable):
May have one or several Project Finance Analyst(s) as functional reports, for a given project

QUALIFICATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS

Must-have Qualifications and Certifications:
Bachelor’s degree or Master’s Degree in Finance, Economics or equivalent.
Preferred Qualifications and Certifications:
Chartered Accountant CA(SA), or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

RELEVANT EXPERIENCES

Must-have years of professional experiences:
At least 4-7 years proven work experience, ideally in Project Finance with a bank or financial advisor, or an IPP.
Must-have years of industry experiences:
At least 2 years of energy or infrastructure industry experience

COMPETENCIES

Technical competencies:
Financial modelling (strong Excel and VBA)
Project Finance structuring
Financing Agreements

Behavioral competencies:
Attention to detail.
Proactive in a dynamic environment.
Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
Good communicator with internal and external stakeholders.

Excellent communication skills in both oral and written English; additional local language skills are an advantage.