Moving on from PFI – Innovative ways to Fund and Finance Major Infrastructure

Unlocking private finance has long been a quest since PFI fell out of favour after the 2015 infrastructure cost review.

It is hard to look forward without looking back at the challenges of PFI, but looking forward is what we will be focusing on. The United Kingdom has significant infrastructure challenges, and it also has a new Government. The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP, has already pledged “a new partnership with the private sector” and investors with about $4 trillion of “dry powder” to invest are clearly interested in being part of the solution, more than ever before.

With a new Government there appears to be the appetite to get things moving: The King’s Speech included some 39 bills for the next parliamentary session, of which the Major Projects Association highlights 14 that relate to major projects.  In particular there is a new organisation called Great British Energy, a publicly-owned energy production company set up to own, manage and operate clean power projects and an Infrastructure & Planning Bill to help accelerate projects and improve investor confidence.  Aligned to this is the new National Wealth Fund – which will provide £7.3bn of capital and look to “crowd in” three times as much from private investors to support the Government’s growth, industrial strategy and clean energy missions. It will do so initially via the existing national banks – the UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Business Bank – before being established as a statutory body in its own right.  The aim is to simplify the support and routes for businesses and investors. It will align to the Industrial Strategy and the Green Prosperity Plan.  Add to this the £100bn of capital projects that Water UK states is in the business plans of the water companies for the next five years, any approach that can “simplify the support and routes” will be very welcome.

This seminar looks to investigate the future of private finance and other innovate ways to fund and finance major projects, taking on board the learning from projects prior to make more informed decisions. The speakers and panellists will look at the issue through a variety of lenses:

• The private investor lens – what are those who provide the capital looking for in an investment
• The developer lens – what can project owners and developers do to put their project at the forefront
• The government lens – what can government and associated organisations do to support these projects