The Development Center for Finance successfully held its annual Project Finance Seminar on July 29, August 5, and 12, 2023 via Zoom. It was attended by fifty-one (51) participants from corporations in various sectors like government, banking, energy, property, and service.

Mr. Lawrence G. Velasco, a former Director of the Project Development Services of the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines, was the key resource speaker of the three-day seminar. His extensive experience in project finance enabled him to explain and demonstrate project finance in action to the participants.

On Day 1, Mr. Velasco discussed the distinction between corporate finance and project finance, capital budgeting concepts and techniques, and cost of capital. This provided participants with a foundation on finance concepts that are used in project finance.

On Day 2, Mr. Velasco continued the discussion of capital structure and formally introduced the participants to the nitty-gritty of Project Finance, such as the common features of project finance, the different players in a project finance deal, and risk identification, allocation, and management.

On Day 3, Mr. Velasco explained and demonstrated how to perform a financial evaluation of a project finance deal. He also shared the various sources of financing for project finance transactions. As a culminating activity, the participants went over a Project Finance case to apply concepts learned from the past three (3) sessions.

The following are feedback from some participants about the seminar:

“Insights were great! I love how the concepts were simplified to facilitate ease of understanding.”

“I like how the lecturer can engage with the students even if the lecture is virtual. I also like how he explains the terms and give examples for us to further visualize the concepts.”

“Lecturer did his best to make theories understandable through real life examples. Excellent program!”

“The seminar content is very informative. Lecturer is an expert in the field of Project Finance.”

“Thank you for the fruitful 3 sessions. Very good delivery of topics, can be easily understood.”