14th-15th October 2008, Four Seasons, Los Angeles

Programme

Please note this is a provisional programme, subject to change.

Day One: Monday 8th October 2007

08.30 Registration & morning refreshments

09.00 Chairman’s opening remarks

Rod Morrison, Editor, PFI

09.10 Comprehensive overview of the PPP market

What are the challenges for new entrants to the PPP market?
Contract policy differences between states
How do you do the sums?
What are the longer term politics of PPPs from the private sector viewpoint?
Why has the harmonization of the planning and projects approval process across Australia stalled?
Emerging PPP delivery models

Peter Hicks, General Manager, Infrastructure Investment Division, Leighton Contractors

09:45 Views from the State Governments

Public benefit model being used for these partnerships
Formula used to evaluate PPP projects versus normal public expenditure?
Preferred risk allocation
Procurement process and its need to be more transparent and streamlined
Need for a healthy pipeline
Future PPP developments in each state

Victoria: David Asteraki, Head, Partnerships Victoria
Queensland:TBC
South Australia: Stephen Page, Executive Director, Project & Government Enterprises, Department of Treasury

11.15 Refreshments

Debt Structuring, Risks and the Lessons

11.30 Panel Discussion: Financing & the risky business of PPPs

With the increasing sophistication of the financial markets in Australia bringing large financial implications and the long contract terms of PPPs, it is critical to understand the nature of risk transfers.

The latest financing trends
Accessing the bond markets
Innovative debt structuring
What are the realities of risk transfers in PPPs?
How does the experience compare against the rhetoric of project proponents and the formal contract conditions?
How well managed are the commercial risks versus the governance risks?

Moderator:

Rod Morrison, Editor, PFI

Panelists:

Graham Brooke, Partner, Head of Financing, KPMG
Jeremy Brasington, Head of Infrastructure, Project & Structured Finance, ANZ
Craig Lee, Managing Director – Asia Pacific, Assured Guaranty

12.30 Lunch

13.35 Financing the reliance rail consortium

A consortium of four global equity partners and two monoline insurers has provided funding and financial guarantees for obligations totaling $2.4 billion, the largest social infrastructure PPP undertaking in Australia, to help finance the modernization of passenger rail service in Sydney.

How was the debt structured?
What were the issues in structuring the finance?
What are the outputs and timeframe for delivery?

Michael Polich, Director Structured Finance, ABN AMRO
Richard Smith, Babcock & Brown

Social Infrastructure

14.15 Overview of social infrastructure development

What are the political sensitivities in using private finance to fund social infrastructure in the areas of health and education?
How should this be managed?
What has been done in the past?
What is coming up in the future?

Garry Bowditch, Executive Director, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia

14.40 Case study: social outcomes, commercial interests

The challenge of engaging the private sector in the provision of public housing – a case study on the Bonnyrigg Living Communities PPP project.

Balancing the commercial viability of the project against the required social outcomes
Structuring the debt to effectively marry two different capital structures
Establishing parameters to meet the required social outcomes
Appropriate allocation of roles and risks in a social housing PPP
Challenges of integrating public and private aspects of the project
Future opportunities using this debt structuring model

Joanne Evans, Partner, Blake Dawson Waldron

15.00 Refreshments

15.15 Case study: Royal Children’s Hospital redevelopment

The $900m redevelopment of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne is the largest social infrastructure PPP undertaken in Australia. The project is being delivered by the Major Projects Unit within the Victorian Department of Human Services, which has also been responsible for the Casey Hospital and Royal Women’s Hospital PPP projects. The unit is led by Tony Lubofsky who, as the project director on all three projects, has been at the forefront of the PPP scene in Australia.

Procurement of the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Developments in the approach adopted by both the State and the private sector to achieve the best outcomes for all stakeholders

Tony Lubofsky, Projects Director, Royal Children’s Hospital Redevelopment Project, Victorian Department of Human Services

15.40 Case study: Department of Defence – Project Single Leap phase 2

Adrian Bell, Chairman, RBC Europe Limited and Co-Head Debt Finance, RBC Capital Markets, London

Water & Energy Infrastructure

16.00 The Standardising of PPP contracts in Australia

PPP contracts are typically highly complex, creating a barrier to the development of the Australian PPP market and increasing bid costs. Internationally, a number of measures have been taken to address this issue, particularly in the more established PFI/PPP industry in the UK. An overview of the state of play in the UK and recent initiatives in Victoria, and analyse what benefits could be derived from the standardisation of PPP contracts in Australia.

Appraisal of the current PPP contractual environment in Australia
Steps taken towards standardisation in the UK and Australia
The Standardisation of PFI Contracts in the UK
Partnerships Victoria’s Standard Commercial Principles
Challenges of standardisation of PPP contracts
Opportunities for standardisation of PPP contracts in Australia

Toby Browne-Cooper, Senior Associate, Feehills

16.30 Panel discussion: The success, the failures, the lessons

What does the success of the project depend on?
What contributes most to the failure of a project?
Where are the future opportunities?

Moderator:

Rod Morrison, Editor, PFI

Panellists

Bill Banks, Head of Project Finance Advisory, Ernst & Young
John Walter, Partner, Corrs, Chambers Westgarth
Roger Perrins, Partner, Middletons
John Martin, Head of Structured Finance, ABN AMRO

17.15 End of day one

17.30 Drinks Reception

Day Two: Tuesday 9th October 2007

08.30 Registration & refreshments

Transport Infrastructure

09.00 Creative thinking in a competitive market

In what has been described as “a model example of public-private sector partnership” Perth’s City of Gosnells and Leighton Contractors jointly created a regional wetlands system during the construction of a state government highway, providing benefits to both parties. Creative thinking in the bidding process provides a competitive edge.

Innovative ways of structuring and financing projects.
Demonstrating the unique point of difference in the bidding process
Finding creative solutions
Creative delivery of transport infrastructure solutions to meet the changing expectations of government

Dave Wilson, Executive General Manager, Construction Division, Leighton Contractors

09.20 Case study: Sydney’s cross city tunnel – in receivership

Was the bidding process of awarding the contract to the bidder with the highest up front payment in the best interest of the public?
What is involved when a receiver is appointed?
What are the issues to be dealt with e.g. restructuring the debt?
How do you re-package such a project to make it viable to sell?
And how do you go about selling it?
How could the project have been structured differently?

Martin Madden, Korda Mentha, Receivers for the project
Dominic Emmitt, Partner, Corrs Chambers Wesgarth

10.05 Case study: NSW Tollroads – The Way forward?

Findings from the Richmond Report
M4 East - the next procurement
F3 / Sydney Orbital Link - another missing link

Martin Locke, Partner, Project Finance Advisory, PricewaterhouseCoopers

10.30 Refreshments

Emerging Markets Offshore

10.45 Asia in transition – Opportunities and challenges for PPPs

Success: hard work, consensus, courage and compromise?
What are the unique opportunities available in the Asian markets?
What is the starting point (corporate finance focus versus a project finance focus)?
What’s worked, what hasn’t?
What’s required to move the party forward?

11.15 PPPs in JAPAN

Nakano Sun Plaza is one of Japan’s first examples of public-private outsourcing of public assets where PPPs are still a fledging industry.

As the first outsourcing PPP, was this used as a test project?
How was the division levied between public and private?
Elements of access and transparency
The ceiling price system
The shift by public administrators from executors to managers of public projects
Adoption of a market-style project financing perspective
Opportunities for foreign capital

12.00 Lunch

13.30 PPPs in Singapore - The Singapore Sports Hub

The Singapore Sports Hub is being developed to replace the National Stadium and is the first and largest integrated sports facility infrastructure PPP project in the world. It is also the first significant social infrastructure PPP in Singapore.

Projects in Singapore currently being considered for PPP
Conditions Singapore has established to ensure PPP projects will be implemented appropriately
With a $50m minimum project size for PPP consideration, what is the criteria for bundling small similar lower value projects together to create an economic deal size?
Complexity and specialist nature of facilities – bidding market limited
Scale of equity funding requirement
Incentives to ensure robust event calendar

Mark Rathbone, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Singapore

14.15 PPPs in SOUTH KOREA

Debt structuring models
Mitigating foreign exchange variations
Level of government authority support
Flexibility versus prescriptive centralised approach
Opportunities in Korea

15.00 Case study: The Uijeongbu LRT Project – The first PPP in Korea involving foreign banks

Inter-creditor regime to accommodate differing interest rates
Conflicting lender interest

15.45 Refreshments

The North American Market

16.00 The Canadian perspective on public procurement – The Line Rapid transport project

Plans for the new line have generated much controversy with claims that the approval process was undemocratic and dishonest, and that projected ridership figures grossly inflated.
Role of the Trustee and Security Trustee in Project Finance Projects.
Opportunities in Canada
Specific transactions highlights

Jennifer Scott, Vice President, Head of Transaction Management, BNY Trust Australia Pty Ltd.

16.35 USA - The changing transportation paradigm

How deep are the pockets?
Sources of money
Balancing the strengths of both sectors
Recruiting the private sector
Innovative financing tools
Opportunities