Breaking Into Wall Street – Project Finance & Infrastructure Modeling

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Project Finance & Infrastructure Modeling , Breaking Into Wall Street – Project Finance & Infrastructure Modeling download

Breaking Into Wall Street – Project Finance & Infrastructure Modeling

• Evaluate infrastructure deals like a pro
  You’ll evaluate the risks and rewards and make investment recommendations
• Master financial modeling
  You’ll build models for solar, wind, gas, nuclear, toll road, and airport assets
• Complete 7 case studies
  Build 4 shorter “crash course” models and 3 detailed “on the job” ones

Ace Your Interviews

Get everything you need to answer technical questions and complete case studies with confidence

Outperform At Work

The more models and deal analyses you have, the better you’ll perform… and the higher your bonus will be

I won’t mix words: Most Project Finance training is terrible.

Whether you’re looking at paid courses, in-person training, or free resources, most training uses two equally useless approaches:

Wrong Approach #1: Convoluted Models – Complex models can be nice, but when you’re completing case studies in an interview setting, no one will ask you for a 5,000-row Excel model with built-in VBA and macros. And when you’re on the job, shorter, simpler models are more useful if you need a quick reference or formulas you can re-purpose for your current task.

Wrong Approach #2: “Barely Project Finance” Financial Modeling – On the other end of the spectrum, some of this training is so simple and generic that it’s a stretch to call it “Project Finance.” You can project the cash flows for almost any asset, but you need a lot more than simple cash flows linked to energy production to call it a “Project Finance model.”

The correct approach – the one our course uses – is based on real-life case studies given in interviews.

We don’t teach 5,000-row Excel models that require 30 hours to understand; we teach what you need to know to complete case studies.

That means the models in this course are in the “intermediate zone,” with each one taking up 50 to 300 rows in Excel (the “on the job” case studies go beyond this since they are intentionally more complex).

It’s enough to learn the core concepts and finish in a few hours, but not so much that you get lost in a pile of minutiae under some broken wind turbines.

We created this course by gathering dozens of case study examples from students who had been through interviews at Infrastructure Private Equity firms and Project Finance groups and synthesizing the best parts of their cases.

Our approach focuses on the 3 most important points in Project Finance Modeling:

1) Cash Flow Projections – You need to know how to move from energy production or traffic levels to revenue and expenses and how items such as depreciation, loan fees, and interest factor into an asset’s cash flows.

If you get your units wrong, your offshore wind farm might morph into a nuclear plant and have a meltdown or two – and you won’t be able to blame it on Homer Simpson!

2) Debt Sizing and Sculpting – Project Finance is fundamentally different from corporate finance because of this focus on sculpting the Debt to match the asset’s future cash flows. And you must know how to set up debt sizing and sculpting with standard Excel formulas, Goal Seek, simple VBA code, and circular reference switches.

3) Investment Recommendations – Finally, you need to understand how to put together all the pieces to make an investment recommendation. You must be able to read the numbers in the different cases, assess the risk factors, and say “Yes” or “No” to a deal.

No other training on the market puts together all the pieces quite like this because they’re too busy teaching confusing models that require a Ph.D. to understand.

This course has 7 case studies ranging from 30 minutes to 3 hours, and we’re adding one more example for a lithium mining development in April 2024 (you’ll receive free access to this one when you sign up today at our “early preview rate”).

Through these case studies, you’ll learn to:

• Project cash flows for different types of infrastructure assets, ranging from renewables to fossil fuels to nuclear to toll roads and airports.
• Understand timelines and flags in infrastructure models and how they factor into debt refinancing, sculpting, and sizing.
• Build the key drivers for infrastructure assets, including the links between energy production under different contract types and revenue (and, for transportation, the links between GDP, inflation, and growth rates).
• Calculate the key metrics for infrastructure assets for both the equity investors and the lenders, including the equity IRR and cash-on-cash multiple, the Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR), the Loan Life
• Coverage Ratio (LLCR), the Project Life Coverage Ratio (PLCR), and the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE).
• Sculpt and size Debt properly based on minimum DSCR and LLCR targets – with standard Excel formulas, Goal Seek, simple VBA code, or circular calculations.
• Handle multiple tranches of Debt, such as one tranche with a “merchant tail” and fixed amortization or two tranches that are both sculpted and sized based on the asset’s cash flows.
• Build in reserve accounts, such as the Debt Service Reserve Account (DSRA), Major Maintenance
• Reserve Account (MMRA), and Decommissioning Reserve, and analyze their impact on the cash flows.
• Model construction periods in development deals, including tricks to avoid the circular references created by the interest during construction (IDC) and the loan commitment fees.
• Make investment recommendations based on the deal’s expected returns and the key risk factors.

If you want to answer interview questions, complete case studies with ease, and leap up the ladder once you start working, this is the course for you.

Brian DeChesare
Founder, Breaking Into Wall Street

Here’s What You’ll Get When You Sign Up for This Project Finance & Infrastructure Modeling Course:

 Acquisition Case Studies (“Brownfield” Deals)
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: This training gets you up to speed quickly with cash flow projections and debt modeling for assets like toll roads and power plants, which are the bread-and-butter of infrastructure.

This training is based on 2 case studies – one for a toll road in Spain and one for a natural gas power plant in the U.S.

You’ll learn how to project revenue, expenses, and cash flow for each one, including nuances around downtime for maintenance and repairs and possible net operating losses (NOLs).

You’ll also learn how to sculpt and size the Debt using simple Goal Seek functions as well as a macro written in VBA – and how to handle an acquisition scenario with two tranches of Debt and a “merchant tail” on one.

Finally, you’ll use the IRR and credit metric output to make an investment recommendation in each case and determine whether the asking prices are appropriate.

Development Case Studies (“Greenfield” Deals)
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: These lessons walk you through the construction and operations of renewable assets (solar and wind farms) and explain how to evaluate deals and make investment recommendations.

In these lessons, you’ll complete a solar plant development model and an offshore wind farm model.

You’ll start by learning how to model the construction period for renewable assets, including the debt and equity draws, the interest during construction (IDC), the loan commitment fees, and more.

Then, you’ll learn how to refinance the construction loan into permanent loans, and you’ll forecast the revenue and expenses based on the asset’s energy production, degradation, seasonality, and “uncertainty” (e.g., P50 vs. P70 vs. P90).

Each model treats the Debt a bit differently, so you’ll learn how to size and sculpt it to match the asset’s cash flows based on targets such as a minimum DSCR or LLCR – and you’ll learn how to model multiple Debt tranches in a single deal based on these overall constraints.

Finally, you’ll answer case study questions, set up sensitivities, and recommend investing based on the potential returns and risk factors.

 Detailed Quarterly Solar Development Case Study
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: These lessons walk you through a more complex “on the job” case study for a solar plant development in Australia, with a full quarterly model and support for reserve accounts.

In these lessons, you’ll complete a quarterly model for a real solar plant in Queensland, Australia, and make an investment recommendation for the equity investors and the lenders.

You’ll start by setting up the upfront and pro-rata equity and debt draws to cover the construction costs, and you’ll forecast the revenue and operating expenses based on annual vs. quarterly payments and production incentive payments.

Then, you’ll sculpt and size the Senior Debt based on a minimum targeted LLCR in each operating case, with full support for downside scenarios such as availability reductions, construction contingencies, and operating expense overruns.

You’ll also learn how the reserve accounts, such as the Debt Service Reserve Account (DSRA), Major Maintenance Reserve Account (MMRA), and Decommissioning Reserve, work in an infrastructure model, and how they affect the cash flow to equity and dividends (including a “Cash Trap” setup based on a minimum DSCR and Funded Reserves).

The final lessons walk you through the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) calculation, sensitivity tables, and a full investment recommendation in both Word and PowerPoint format.

 Airport Acquisition and Expansion Case Study
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: These lessons walk you through an “on the job” case study for the acquisition and expansion of the Singapore Changi International Airport, including support for a full 3-statement model.

In this case study, you’ll build a full 3-statement buyout model for the Singapore International Airport and evaluate the initial deal and its S$10 billion Terminal 5 construction project.

This model blends elements of traditional leveraged buyout models, such as scheduled debt repayments and cash flow sweeps, with infrastructure-specific features, such as Construction Loans and Equity Draws, DSCR-constrained Dividends, and growth rates that depend directly on GDP and inflation numbers.

It also includes some more advanced debt features, such as “grace periods” and variable repayment schedules that change based on the year number.

The final lessons walk you through the IRR and cash-on-cash multiple calculations and how to evaluate the credit risk to the lenders in the deal; you’ll also get the full case answers and a presentation with our recommended changes to the deal.

 Nuclear Plant Development Case Study
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: This training delves into the nuances around assets with extremely long construction timelines and operating lives and explains how the financing methods and investment analysis differ.

This model includes additional complexities around the development process, such as multiple phases and Preferred Stock that is not refinanced; the operational period also includes a cash flow sweep, DSCR-limited Dividends, and a reserve account for multi-year decommissioning.

The final lessons walk you through the returns calculations, the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), and the VBA code to automate the process of back-solving for the recommended PPA rates. Finally, you’ll get the case study answers and a full investment recommendation presentation.

Plus… This Course Comes With The Following
Valuable Tools To Accelerate Your Learning:

• Subtitles/Captions and Transcripts
• Study Plans and Written Notes
• Lithium Mining Case Study in Apr 2024
• Watchable on ANY Device
• Practice Quizzes with Full Answer KeysCommonly Asked Questions:
  1. Business Model Innovation: Acknowledge the reality of a legitimate enterprise! Our approach involves the coordination of a collective purchase, in which the costs are shared among the participants. We utilize this cash to acquire renowned courses from sale pages and make them accessible to individuals with restricted financial resources. Our clients appreciate the affordability and accessibility we provide, despite the authors’ concerns.
  2. Project Finance & Infrastructure Modeling Course
  • There are no scheduled coaching calls or sessions with the author.
  • Access to the author’s private Facebook group or web portal is not permitted.
  • No access to the author’s private membership forum.
  • There is no direct email support available from the author or their team.