IJGlobal Awards 2021 Shortlist/Winners

► A forthright, long-established member of the infrastructure community, Richard is renowned for leading the global PwC infrastructure business as well as having headed up the UK Government’s PPP unit at HM Treasury for a 2-year stint. Originally from South Africa, he has been living in the UK for longer than he likely cares to admit, during which time he has established himself as an international figure in the infra world. Richard advises on commercial and financial aspects of large infrastructure projects, serving as a firmwide relationship partner with Africa & CEE (and previously the Middle East).

► As managing director and head of European infrastructure and project finance at MetLife Investment Management, Annette has risen steadily over the 6-plus years she has been at the US-based fund to take the top job in Q3 2019. She has deep experience in the infra/energy lending world having worked at SocGen and Barclays before heading down the alternative route. In early 2011 she switched camps to join AMP, followed by a stint at LGIM and then finding a forever home at MetLife where she has built an impressive team.

► Having been head of European specialised finance at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in London since the summer of 2013, Jeremy has deep experience in the infrastructure community with a pedigree that dates back to 1990. Jeremy has only worked in 3 banks over the years – unlike many who are of a more flighty nature – and has established his credential at each of them. In Deutsche Bank for the first 10 years of his career, Jeremy primarily focused on telecoms and media, spending 5 years in Tokyo. Then at Credit Agricole from 2001 to 2012, he established his project finance credentials, rising to managing director level, heading the structured finance team, again spending 5 years in Tokyo. In his role at SMTB (all of it in London), Jeremy has led the specialised finance division in, comprising teams covering structured finance / asset finance activities such as project finance, aircraft, ship and real estate finance across the EMEA geographical zone.

► A well-known figure from the infrastructure community. Hari is renowned for having forthright opinions on the market he serves as head of global power, energy and infrastructure as well as international head of investment banking at Cantor Fitzgerald. Over the years, Hari has hit the headlines for a rather spectacular team exit from Jefferies followed by establishing an incredibly strong business at Cantor Fitz.

► When it comes to financial advisory, Swag has worked since before the turn of the millennium at 3 leading providers in the infrastructure and energy space. He started at PwC and moved on to Rothschild where he was head of structured finance advisory for 14 years, but for the last 7-plus years he has been at Evercore where he has risen to the role of senior managing director and head of the European debt advisory team. In that time, there’s not much he has not seen and acted on.

► when it comes to interesting careers, they don’t come much more interesting than Emma’s. She is head of infrastructure debt for Europe at AMP Capital, but has worked as a lawyer, as a BD manager for a renewables company, then as a project finance banker before joining the Australia-headquartered infrastructure fund where she has risen to partner, heading up the infra debt segment where mezz is flavour of the day.

►  For those who recall the turbulent early days of the global financial crisis, they will well recall Phillip’s journey from being head of infrastructure and project and export finance to a couple of years at HSH Nordbank and then on to MUFG Bank where he now heads the structured finance team. It was something of a slow-moving roller coaster, but resulted in him landing at one of the most active lenders in the infrastructure sector with a big team of experienced bankers under him. In that journey, there is not much that Phillip has not seen and done when it comes to lending and advisory.

► A seasoned infrastructure lending professional, Sarah has logged stays at 3 key pre-GFC lenders before landing an MD role at one of Canada’s leading banks. The early days saw a start at AIB, followed by (what at the time seemed an inevitably career move) more than 4 years at RBS and then rode the GFC storm with Dexia. She spun out of that to join the Laurie Mahon team at CIBC as London-based managing director and head of project finance and infrastructure corporate banking and has never looked back.

► An infrastructure banker who needs no introduction whatsoever… but will receive one all the same. Layth has been a mainstay of the IJGlobal Awards judging team for as long as this infra hack can recall. There are few people in the market with his depth of experience and exposure to a vast range of transactions across the globe. He has been at SMBC since before the millennium and has risen to the position of head of infrastructure, transport and Islamic Finance at the Japanese bank covering the entire EMEA region.

► Having been appointed co-managing director at African Infrastructure Investment Managers in August 2020 and having more than 16 years of corporate finance and infrastructure equity investing experience across European and African markets, Olusola is ideally qualified to judge this region. Previously he was an investment manager in Macquarie’s European Infrastructure Funds team in London, where he worked on a number of European infra transactions in a principal capacity, and played a key role in portfolio company management, primarily in the petrochemical storage and transport space. Prior to Macquarie, Olusola worked at PwC in London where his focus was on transaction advisory services to a primarily private equity client base.

► There are few lawyers with whom IJ has a longer and stronger relationship than it has with David at Allen & Overy. You know you’re getting a bit long in the tooth when you start measuring work friendships by decades (as stands true with a good few on this panel) and David sits comfortably in this group. He is a dyed-in-the-wool A&O lawyer with a couple of years spent on secondment to HM Treasury (presumably to enjoy a different kind of madness). As with so many of his colleagues, David has worked on the biggest and brightest transactions over the years and likely has the scars to prove it.

► One of the insurance industry’s foremost experts in PPP, Sarah is also one of the few female insurance advisers in the infrastructure industry in North America – though her remit increasingly takes in Europe and she now lives in Austria. At INTECH Risk Management, she brings a wealth of understanding of the risks faced by lenders and stakeholders on infra / energy transactions. Sarah worked on Canada’s first P3 projects and her experience in project finance and construction provided a natural transition into PPP. Since then, she has been involved with designing and implementing insurance specifications in all major agreements forming part of large projects..

► Another well-known figure from the London infrastructure lending scene, Matt kept the community guessing during the global financial crisis having joined AIB as its head of UK infrastructure in December 2007… a challenging time for Irish lenders. However, he bucked the trend by building a strong team of established bankers, carving a niche for the bank which has grown over the intervening years to play an impressive role in today’s lending market.

►  A lawyer with impressive language skills, Victoria operates out of Paris as head of project finance and co-head of Africa business team at Reed Smith. She has been at Reed Smith for the past 4 years, but built her reputation over 17 years at White & Case. Victoria is dual-qualified practicing under English law and French law and has led teams financing projects across the globe including in Europe, Turkey, Middle East, Asia, Central Asia, CEE and Africa with a particular focus on emerging markets. She specialises in particular on transport and social infrastructure projects, renewable and conventional energy projects and water projects of all types.

► A principal investment officer for the IFC infrastructure and natural resources department working out of Dubai, Christopher is responsible for origination and execution of debt and equity investments in the power, water, energy and essential infra sectors throughout the MENA region. He led IFC’s efforts to support renewable energy programmes in Jordan and Egypt, while creating and structuring complementary low transaction cost, standardised limited recourse project financing programmes to support the many renewable developers participating. Before joining the IFC in 2013, Chris served at the Mubadala / GE Capital (MGEC) JV for 3 years in Abu Dhabi as a director and head of energy and project finance.

► Serving as the managing director and CFO of ASMA Capital Partners, Abu is also a member of the management committee and – alongside his role within the investment decision making process – is responsible for the finance function at ASMA Capital. He is also a member of the board of directors of a number of investee companies of the fund. Prior to this, Abu was a managing partner at EMP Bahrain and was responsible for managing IDBIF I, which returned more than $1.2 billion to its investors. Before EMP Bahrain, Abu was with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank where we was responsible for managing and structuring infrastructure and asset-backed investments.

► Dubai-based managing director and co-head investment banking, coverage, and infrastructure energy finance at Natixis, Adel (pictured right) is responsible for the French bank’s activities in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. With more than 20 years’ experience in banking – including 9 with the RBS infra finance group in London covering advisory, lending and equity – he has deep experience across the sectors. He has exposure to power, renewables, O&G, telecoms, water, waste, and social infrastructure as well as accommodation in META, delivering delivered fixed rate solutions from institutional investors. He has been based in the Middle East, covering the region since the summer of 2010.

► Last seen at the IJInvestor Awards in London towards the end of last year, Craig has long had a global remit at Arup but has for the last 3 years been living in Canada (most of that under lockdown). He returns to London in March. Craig has worked at Arup since the spring of 2007, and from 2008-10 he operated out of Dubai as commercial director for the region. From 2010 to 2013, he was advisory lead for the UK, the Middle East and Africa; and then from 2013-19 he was global leader of business and investor advisory. More recently, he has been in London and then Toronto as chief executive of Arup Corporate Finance… until March at which time we will discover what he is doing back in London (bated breath held).

► Head of banking and finance for EMEA at Norton Rose Fulbright, Madhavi is an infrastructure and projects lawyer operating out of London – Madhavi recently stepping up to succeed Chris Brown who had held the leadership role since 2019. Madhavi focuses on advising parties in the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects. She also acts on structured financings, project financings and restructurings. Modhavi is primarily experienced in advising commercial lenders, multilaterals, DFIs, sovereigns and development companies on lending, including financings involving ECAs.

► Ali-Tahir is based in the UAE and is a senior project finance transactor with extensive experience of structuring large-scale financings in Middle East and Africa region primarily in the power and water sector. He has also worked on transactions in the LNG, petrochemicals, fertilizer and telecom sectors. He has been working at Standard Chartered Bank in the Middle Easts since 2005, having worked there for a couple of years prior to that in Pakistan. He started his career before the turn of the millennium in Pakistan at KPMG.

► Currently an adviser to the National Development Fund of Saudi Arabia on a strategic infrastructure financing initiative, Dan is a well-known figure within the regional infra community. He started his career in leveraged and acquisition finance in Australia in 2000, continuing with UBS and Goldman Sachs in M&A advisory with a focus on the industrials, building materials and services sectors. In 2008, he moved to the Gulf where he was head of investment for a UAE sovereign direct investment entity and then CIO for a large, diversified family group. Dan recently served as head of structured finance at Al Rajhi Bank in KSA, leading the greenfield financing of a series of water, renewables and industrial projects.

► Head of corporate and project finance at SMBC’s Middle East department based in Dubai, Laughlan (pictured right) in the summer of 2020 switched roles with Tom Waterhouse. He has more than 25 years’ experience in banking with the vast majority of those focused on project and structured finance. He has experience on a wide variety of projects and corporates in the energy and infrastructure sectors including power, renewable energy, O&G, petrochemicals, waste to energy, wastewater, utilities, social infrastructure and transportation. Laughlan’s roles and product areas include financial advisory, structured finance, corporate finance, acquisition finance, green/sustainable finance, debt capital markets, derivatives products and LP investment.

► Ravi is senior managing director for investments at AP Moller Capital, operating out of the UAE. He is a long-established infrastructure specialist having built a reputation working across its many sub-sectors around the world. He switched to join AP Moller late last year having spent a bit more than 4 years at KPMG in Dubai and having been on the ground in the region since 2002. He started his career at GE Capital in London, spent 5 years at ABN Amro in Hong Kong and India before moving to Dubai with Standard Chartered Bank where he worked until the end of 2016 before his spell in the Big 4. His current role at AP Moller Capital serves as the culmination of his experience and the pinnacle of his career.

► A partner and head of the Middle East region for Pinsent Masons, Catherine (pictured right) is also the board sponsor for the law firm’s business in Saudi Arabia, while also serving as a board member of the British Aviation Group. She is a projects lawyer specialising in PPP across a range of sectors with a particular focus on airports, ports and waste management. She has worked on projects across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Catherine has been delivering PPP projects for more than 25 years – including the first hospital PPP to achieve financial close in 1997 – and relocated to Dubai in 2019.

►  Sonia joined Amber Infrastructure North American investment origination team in 2021. She has in-depth experience in both North American and international infrastructure investments. Sonia also has extensive infrastructure transaction and legal experience as a former managing director and general counsel for Rubicon Capital Advisors and director of infrastructure at InfraRed Capital Partners.

► Ana Carolina heads ING’s sustainable finance team covering the Americas region. She works with ING clients in providing structuring and advisory of sustainable finance solutions, to support them in accelerating their sustainability transition. She also plays an integral role in supporting ING’s Terra approach, a commitment to steer its €600 billion lending book in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to well-below two degrees. She has extensive experience in advising clients on capital structure and working capital optimization and previously has served as a director in ING’s healthcare sector group where she covered US large multinationals.

► Mansi was promoted to head of US infrastructure and project finance at MetLife Investment Management in November 2021. Most recently, she was vice president of infrastructure and project finance at MetLife which she joined in 2006. In this role, she was responsible for transaction sourcing, origination, underwriting and portfolio management. Mansi primarily focused on the transport, social infrastructure, power, water, pipeline and energy sectors in the Americas.

► Mike is a New York-based partner at Winston & Strawn and co-chair of the firm’s energy & infrastructure industry group and co-chair of the firm’s project finance practice. He represents sponsors, developers, investors, lenders and underwriters in a wide range of projects and complex finance transactions, including project financings and acquisition financings. Mike has nearly 20 years of experience representing clients in the infrastructure, transportation and energy sectors and significant experience with PPPs.

► Markus Pressdee is a managing director of Rothschild & Co and head of Rothschild & Co’s transportation, infrastructure, power & renewables group in North America. Markus is a veteran infrastructure finance professional with 28 years of experience. He has been the lead advisor to financial, corporate and government clients on in excess of $200 billion of transactions. He has deep cross-border deal expertise, having been based in both the US and UK, and an expert in large complex transactions.

► Lindsay is a senior manager in KPMG’s infrastructure advisory practice with over 12 years’ experience. She provides strategic, financial and commercial advice to a diverse mix of public and private sector clients. Lindsay has worked across social infrastructure, defence and energy sectors, but with a particular focus on transit and transport. She specialises in delivering large, complex, city-changing infrastructure around the world. She has advised on projects around the world, bringing international leading practice to all of her clients.

► Sue is a senior managing director with EY Infrastructure Advisors. Sue provides public agencies with strategic and financial advice to develop innovative approaches to project delivery, financing, and contract and risk management. Her recent experience includes advising the Gateway Program Development Corporation on the Hudson Tunnel Project, Los Angeles World Airports on the automated people mover and consolidated rental car facility at LAX, the State of New Jersey on the NJ Wind Port, and several state DOTs on highway projects.

► Dolly Mirchandani focuses on infrastructure and PPP projects and has over 20 years’ experience working on some of the most significant deals in the sector. She represents sponsors, infrastructure funds, commercial banks, institutional lenders, contractors, secondary market investors and governments in the tender, development and acquisition of greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects.

► Aitor heads Natixis infrastructure and energy finance for Latam. He has more than 20 years of diverse infrastructure finance experience, on the banking, developer, and construction sides. He joined Natixis’ Americas platform in 2013 after having headed project finance Spain & Portugal for Natixis since September 2011. Prior to joining Natixis, Mr. Álava was deputy head, project finance Spain & Portugal at BNP Paribas and, earlier, director, global export and project finance Iberia at Fortis Bank.

► Tobey leads the energy practice for the Americas, including both conventional energy and renewable energy. Recent transaction highlights include the acquisition and financing of Colbun Transmision on behalf of APG and Celeo Group; refinancing of renewables projects across Latin America; and transmission projects in Brazil, Chile and Peru. Tobey is also CEO of our affiliate, Astris Securities. Prior to joining Astris in 2013, Tobey spent 10 years leading transactional finance teams as a sponsor/owner of electricity assets, including 6 years at the AES Corporation..

► Juan is a managing director in Macquarie Capital’s infrastructure and energy capital team. Juan has extensive experience in project finance, P3 procurement and long-term infrastructure projects. Over the last 14 years, including over 10 years with Macquarie, he has worked on several major complex P3 projects across North America, Europe, and Latin America, from their origination to their substantial completion. He has expertise across various infrastructure subsectors, notably energy, digital, hospital, water, road, and rail infrastructure. Juan recently completed Macquarie Capital’s first principal transaction in Colombia and its first mining BOT project in Chile.

► David joined SMBC New York in 2013 to head the infrastructure Latin America practice, covering transport infrastructure social infrastructure, water infrastructure and telecoms. David has a long working experience in the Americas, where he has advised, structured and/or financed transactions worth over $50 billion (aggregate) in countries such as USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Uruguay, Argentina, Bermuda, and Aruba, among other counties.

► Guido advises financial and corporate clients in a variety of cross-border finance matters, primarily involving Latin America and the Caribbean. Guido counsels a range of banks, institutional investors, development finance institutions, sponsors, and corporates. His work includes; project bonds; project finance; multisource finance, structured finance; acquisition, leveraged, and other corporate finance. He regularly handles senior and subordinated debt, bridge facilities, revolving facilities, mezzanine facilities, L/C facilities, receivable purchase facilities, credit enhancement, intercreditor arrangements, and security matters.

► Sami is a partner in the projects, energy and infrastructure group, the Latin America group and ECA group and serves as the firm’s relationship partner for a number of IFIs, including IFC, IDB Invest, DFC, US Exim Bank, NADB and EDC. Sami's practice is predominantly focused on advising lenders (including ECAs, MLAs, other official credit agencies and commercial lenders) and sponsors on project finance, PPP transactions and equity and fund investments in Latin America and emerging markets around the world with a focus on the energy and infrastructure sectors.

► Diana is a senior portfolio manager, infrastructure debt investments, at HSBC Asset Management. She has been working in infrastructure finance since 2000, with significant experience in structuring and executing financings across the transport, social infrastructure and energy sectors in Europe, Latin America and Asia. She began her career as a financial adviser in Portugal, advising on Portugal’s first road PPP tenDiana is a senior portfolio manager, infrastructure debt investments, at HSBC Asset Management. She has been working in infrastructure finance since 2000, with significant experience in structuring and executing financings across the transport, social infrastructure and energy sectors in Europe, Latin America and Asia. She began her career as a financial adviser in Portugal, advising on Portugal’s first road PPP tenders

► Dorothée has been head of project finance LatAm with Credit Agricole CIB since September 2021. Prior to joining the project finance LatAm team as a managing director in NY in 2016, she was based in Paris/London and led a number of relevant infrastructure projects in Europe and Middle East, including advising and structuring of public-private parnerships, concessions contracts, and acquisition financings. She is now responsible for origination and execution of project finance transactions across sectors – infrastructure, power & utilities, mining and metals and natural resources, in Latin America.

► Miriam has been working for over 20 years in financial and corporate transactions involving companies and assets in infrastructure, industrial and real estate sectors. Her experience covers infrastructure, project finance, M&A, banking and finance, power, oil & gas, concessions and PPPs and debt restructuring.

► Alex has over 20 years of experience as a finance lawyer, investment banker and infrastructure investor. He has worked on deals in Asia, Australia, UK/Europe, North America and Latin America. Alex joined John Laing in 2008 where his initial focus was on real estate and rail projects. He then moved on to head up various functions including project finance, new markets, strategy, and partnerships. Most recently he set up the Latin American business for John Laing and is now responsible for the UK/European PPP and projects business..

► Alex offers a valuable perspective on the judging team. The Hong Kong-based senior portfolio manager has been expanding the bank's infrastructure debt platform in Asia. His 20 years of working in infrastructure finance have taken him to Paris, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Alex has advised on and arranged debt financing for infrastructure projects throughout the region.

► Cédric works on advisory and arranging assignments, with particular responsibility on developing the bank’s energy transition franchise in Asia. The Hong Kong-based managing director is highly familiar with advising and arranging large-scale offshore wind, solar PV including floating solar and integrated LNG-to-power project financings. He led the bank’s team closing the first offshore wind project financing in Japan – the Akita & Noshiro project.

► Rachel is the bank’s first head of project finance, renewables and infrastructure in the region. She has particularly focused on the renewables sector. The Singapore-based banker has led and closed renewables transactions totalling more than 2.3GW, fueling more than €4.3 billion of investment into the region. Rachel has also worked with US industrial GE in North America, the UK, China, and Singapore.

► John sources and executes infrastructure investments in Asia for the Canadian pension fund. The Singapore-based senior director has more than 2 decades of experience in global infrastructure, notably as an investor focused on energy infrastructure with various private equity firms. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the EDHECinfra Advisory Board, which develops unlisted infrastructure indices and benchmarks.

► Steven’s more than 20 years in the infrastructure sector have led him to Singapore, India, Malaysia, the UK and mainland Europe. The Sydney-based director of infrastructure manages the bank’s relationships with institutional clients and investors. He has worked in the investments team at Leighton Contractors, now part of CIMIC, in the infrastructure advisory team at Macquarie, and in finance management roles at Sydney Airport and Smartgroup.

► Angela’s expertise is in acquisition leveraged financing, project financing, structured financing, and real estate and construction financing transactions. The Singapore-based partner is the head of the firm’s banking and finance practice. She has led transactions with cross border aspects in the region, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, South Korea and UAE.

►  A 20-year veteran of infrastructure finance, Steve has focused extensively on renewable energy, cleantech, and sustainable infrastructure across different geographies and technologies. The Singapore-based regional co-head of project and export finance for Asean and Australia is working on the bank’s targets to deliver $75 billion in sustainable infrastructure and cleantech financing by the end of 2024 and $300 billion in green and transition finance by 2030.

► Scott has expertise in LNG, renewable and conventional power, oil and gas, infrastructure, and shipping. The Tokyo-based co-head of the firm’s Apac projects, energy, natural resources, and infrastructure practice advises clients on energy transition and decarbonisation strategies. He acts for lenders, financiers, project sponsors and project companies on project development and financing, ECA-backed financing, acquisition financings and restructurings.

In addition, Nicky advises major corporates on their commercial contracts and strategic procurement arrangements.

Nicky studied law at Exeter University, UK and the Université d'Aix-Marseille III, France before completing the LPC at the College of Law, Guildford. She qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2002.

► Benoit’s team delivers lenders and owner’s engineering services for renewable energy projects across Asia. The Ho Chi Minh City-based head of renewables Apac for the company’s Energy Systems has more than 15 years of experience in management and advisory roles. He has been involved in securitisation of solar rooftop portfolios, expert hearings, and workshops and trainings.

► A UK national, Jackie has been an influential financier across the Apac region. The Manila-based director of infrastructure finance for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific has more than 3 decades of experience in Asian infrastructure lending and advisory. He has a strong credit philosophy, regional knowledge across the entire energy chain – from power generation, renewable energy, LNG – and sector expertise in infrastructure and telecommunications.

► Lynn’s skills include raising project and corporate financing, structuring bankable projects, undertaking detailed feasibility and commercial assessment and project strategy across sectors, including power, water, transport, health, and education. The Singapore-based Asean infrastructure and PPP advisory leader has nearly 20 years of experience of advising clients to develop, structure and finance infrastructure and PPP projects in Asia and Europe.

► Romain’s more than 15 years of regional and international experience in the energy and infrastructure space has taken him to New York, Mumbai, and Singapore. The Hong Kong-based banker leads the energy and infrastructure group in Asia. His team supports the bank’s clients with advisory and debt arranging services across the power, oil and gas, infrastructure and metals and mining sectors in the region.

► Zoey brings with her experience as a director at a renowned Chinese state-owned enterprise and deal origination, execution, and financial modelling at Deloitte. The Hong Kong-based director of global infrastructure and project finance division covers the gamut of sectors, including ports, toll roads, power and energy, for the credit ratings agency.