The Development Center for Finance successfully held its Project Finance Seminar on July 10, 17, and 24 (Saturdays), 2021, via Zoom. A total of 35 participants attended the seminar, which included accountants and finance practitioners, investment bankers, engineers, and even lawyers, covering a wide range of industries.

Day 1 of the seminar was handled Dr. Joel Yu, UP Virata School of Bisiness (UP VSB) Associate Professor and former MWSS Chief Regulator. He laid down the basics of finance, including time value of money, cost of capital, and capital budgeting.

In Days 2 and 3, Prof. Lawrence Velasco took over. Prof. Velasco is an Assistant Professor at UP VSB and former Director of the Project Development Service of the Public-Private Partnerships Center of the Philippines.

In Day 2, Prof. Velasco formally introduced to the participants the basics of Project Financing, such as the common features of project finance, its similarities and differences with traditional corporate financing, as well as different players in project finance transactions.

In the morning of Day 3, the discussion continued on the various techniques and tools in the de-risking of project finance transactions. In the afternoon, the various sources of financing for project finance transactions were discussed, while an analysis of a Project Finance case was the culminating activity for the seminar to apply all the concepts discussed during the past three (3) Saturdays.

Some of the feedback from the participants were as follows:

“Appreciate Sir Yu’s sharing of experiences in some project finance transactions – something one cannot learn from just textbooks.”

“I admire the speaker’s effort in explaining the concepts to be comprehensible for us non-accountants. Thank you.”

“The pacing of the session was great. Each topic discussed was explained in detail and with clarity. The lecturer was very accommodating in answering the questions.”

“Sir Lawrence made Project Finance much simpler and easier to grasp esp. on the risk assessment and allocation. The two sessions have been very informative and engaging and it helps that his examples are first-hand experience, and thought-provoking. They’re all practical – something to be considered and applied to our current engagements. I find the 2nd session too short, good thing the remaining topics were covered on the 3rd session. Thank you, Sir Lawrence! Kudos to the team!”

“Having a case study was helpful in applying the concepts learned throughout the seminar.”

“Thank you for making Project Finance easy to understand for us without formal Finance background.  Looking forward to more sessions like this.”