Project Finance Structuring Specialist

Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA); Midrand; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

DBSA is seeking a Project Finance Structuring Specialist to provide expert financial structuring and advisory support for investment projects. You will design innovative financing solutions and advise on multi-sector funding strategies to drive bankable projects.

You will lead deal structuring, financial modelling, due diligence, and negotiations with developers and investors to ensure financial closure across programmes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Science, Finance, Engineering, Economics or related field.
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience in Project Finance or Infrastructure Finance, and design/structuring of funding models.
• Experience in project/infrastructure finance, financial modelling and investment banking.
• Experience in investment appraisal, analysis and implementation.
• In-depth knowledge of financing infrastructure and industrial sector projects.
• Proven ability to negotiate and close infrastructure deals.
• Post-graduate qualification/honours in Finance, Business, Accounting, Engineering or Economics is desirable.
• Development finance experience is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement innovative financial structuring solutions to unlock development projects.
• Collaborate with project teams to recommend funding structures or financing mechanisms.
• Design blended finance structures and instruments to de-risk projects.
• Provide input into contracts and project management with a focus on financial structuring.
• Engage with DFIs, climate funders, and investors to secure funder support.

Skills

Deal Structuring

Financial Analysis

Risk Management

Negotiation

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business Science, Finance, Engineering, Economics or related field

Job description

The Project Finance Structuring Specialist is responsible for providing expert financial structuring and advisory support for investment projects. This role drives informed investment decisions and project financial closure by designing innovative financing solutions and advising on multi-sector funding strategies.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Structuring

• Develop and implement innovative and sustainable financial structuring solutions to unlock and accelerate development projects.
• Collaborate with project teams in the Unit to recommend suitable funding structures or financing mechanisms.
• Develop and implement innovative financing instruments, including blended finance, PPPs, guarantees, local currency funding, derivatives, and other financial solutions.
• Conduct detailed due diligence and appraisal of proposed transactions, including commercial, financial, risk, and institutional analysis.
• Provide input into the preparation and negotiation of contracts, with a focus on financial structuring and implications.

Transaction and Deal Support

• Review and provide input for financial structuring sections of agreements, progress reports, project planning management, project management, disbursements management, waivers and amendments and contract management.
• Facilitate project closure and provide strategic support to senior management as required.
• Test market readiness of the Projects with developers, investors, DFIs and OEMs.
• Facilitate engagements with project developers and financiers.
• Provide transaction structuring inputs to ensure bankability of Projects.
• Design of project finance models/structures.
• Map financing options across commercial, concessional, blended-finance and climate-finance sources.
• Design blended finance structures, combining concessional debt, commercial financing, grants, equity, and guarantees to de‑risk the projects.
• Engage DFIs and climate funders, prepare concept notes and pitch materials, and support project sponsors in funder outreach.

Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients at global, regional, and local levels, including businesses, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to further develop specific financing opportunities.
• Manage relationships at various levels with the relevant project stakeholders, partners, and lead promoters, in accordance with the project’s preparation objectives and products.
• Identify key stakeholders and develop a pipeline of potential funders, contributors and partners for programme development initiatives.
• Undertake other tasks as assigned by the line manager, from time to time.

Key Measurements of Outputs

• Number and quality of new innovative funding models and mechanisms designed
• Quality and effective financial models and solutions
• Number of projects successfully prepared (structured) and that reach financial close for implementation
• Value of infrastructure catalysed
• Value of Private & Public Sector partnerships and funding
• Management of relationships with new/existing clients and service providers

INTERNAL LIAISON RELATIONSHIP (The list is not exhaustive)

• Divisional Executives and Unit Heads
• DBSA Committees, e.g., Deal screen, Investment Committees
• Multidisciplinary project teams

EXTERNAL LIAISON RELATIONSHIP (The list is not exhaustive)

• National Government
• Provincial Government
• Local Government
• Investment partners – commercial, DFIs
• SMMEs
• Service providers

Expertise & Technical Competencies

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Minimum Qualification

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Science, Finance, Engineering, Economics or related field.

Minimum Experience

• A minimum of 8 years’ experience in Project Finance or Infrastructure Finance environment, and the design and structuring of funding models and mechanisms.
• Experience in project finance and/or infrastructure finance, financial modelling and project finance/investment banking experience.
• Experience in successful investment, appraisal, analysis and implementation is required.
• In-depth knowledge of the financing of Infrastructure and Industrial Sector projects.
• Proven ability to negotiate and close infrastructure deals.

Desirable Requirements

• A post-graduate qualification/ honours degree in Finance, Business, Accounting, Engineering or Economics.
• Development finance experience.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

a) Business Acumen

• Deep understanding of commercial drivers and can make decisions based on an assessment of alternatives concerning complex business situations.
• Deep understanding of economic priorities of South Africa and Africa and how they can be implemented to meet an organisation's strategic objectives.
• Deep understanding of the need to coordinate efforts with many government entities, the private sector, community groups and individuals to ensure effective implementation of new policies and regulations.
• Takes actions to fit business strategy.
• Assesses and links short‑term tasks in the context of long‑term business strategies or perspectives.
• Reviews own actions against the organisation's strategic plan; includes the big picture when considering possible opportunities or projects, or thinks about long‑term applications of current activities.
• Anticipates possible responses to different initiatives.
• Understands the projected direction of the industry and how changes might impact the organisation.

b) Deal Structuring

• Uses credit enhancement techniques to structure deals and optimise pricing in terms of Basel principles.
• Has an in-depth and practical understanding of how to optimise the Capital Structure, collateral package, and debt repayment profile.
• Interrogates financial models, including those with a high degree of complexity, to develop an optimal structure.
• Identifies complex structural issues that need escalation and proposes appropriate bankable structures.
• Demonstrates knowledge on advanced structuring, including the use of derivatives, syndicated loans, synthetic loans, securitisations, inflation‑linked debt, credit default swaps and subordinated debt.
• Prepares specialised or tailored reports relating to new innovative instruments, gathers information from a variety of sources, analyses and includes in a report to new product approval committees.
• Compiles comprehensive specialist reports as required for inclusion in credit committee submissions.

c) Financial Analysis

• Serves as subject matter expert.
• Evaluates and determines fiscal, operational, and service impacts; analyses and evaluates legislation; and implements and evaluates statistical models in their subject areas.
• Demonstrates in‑depth technical and administrative knowledge of the rules and regulations in the subject area and to defend analyses, testimony, and recommendations relating to a variety of issues before management and commissions.

d) Financial Acumen

• Makes sound financial decisions after having analysed their impacts on the organisation, partner agencies, and community.
• Effectively prepares budgetary submissions and forecasts for own department.
• Knows the internal and external factors that impact resource and asset availability.
• Can interpret management account reports in an operational/commercial context and take action as appropriate to maximise revenues and control costs.

e) Project Preparation

• Demonstrates a sound understanding of limited recourse and balance sheet funding, the process required to prepare projects, and financing documentation required to present projects for investment decisions.
• Leads an internal team of sector specialists and analysts to appraise and present transactions to internal committees.
• Appoints and leads a team of external consultants/advisors (technical, environmental, financial and legal) to prepare and present the Project Information Memorandum(PIM) to prospective financiers.
• Analyses sponsors’ financial statements, understands and reviews financial models.
• Demonstrates a sound understanding of the water, transport and energy sectors to identify potential fatal flaws generally associated with these sectors in projects presented and key risks to be mitigated

f) Solution Focus

• Identifies broad, highly complex problems based on a multitude of factors, many of which are complex and sweeping in nature, difficult to define and often contradictory.
• Creates procedures to articulate the nature of problems and to identify and weigh alternate solutions.
• Evaluates the effectiveness of solutions using approaches tailored to the situation.

g) Financial Analysis

• Serves as subject matter expert.
• Evaluates and determines fiscal, operational, and service impacts; analyses and evaluates legislation; and implements and evaluates statistical models in their subject areas.
• Demonstrates in‑depth technical and administrative knowledge of the rules and regulations in the subject area and to defend analyses, testimony, and recommendations relating to a variety of issues before management and commissions.

h) Risk Management

• Drives integration and standardisation of risk management processes across the organisation.
• Advises on the application of the organisation’s risk management policies, industry best practices and constructs organisation guidelines.
• Analyses trends in risk management and internal control, evaluates implications, defines, and implements organisation‑wide response.

i) Negotiation

• Has an appreciation of cultural sensitivities and differences.
• Effectively employs a variety of advanced behavioural/interpersonal competencies to control the negotiation situation.
• Can take the lead in a variety of sensitive negotiation situations requiring high levels of tact and diplomacy.
• Can place a discrete negotiation situation within the context of a broader long‑term relationship and is not threatened by conceding ground to protect the longer‑term interests of DBSA.

j) Commercial Awareness

• Deep understanding of commercial drivers and can make decisions based on an assessment of alternatives concerning complex business situations.
• Deep understanding of DBSA economic priorities and how they can be implemented to meet DBSA's strategic objectives.
• Deep understanding of DBSA's core sector role in achieving DBSA's strategic objectives.
• Deep understanding of the need to coordinate efforts with many government entities, the private sector, community groups and individuals to ensure effective implementation of new policies and regulations.

k) Communication and Reporting

• Able to communicate complex problems or concepts by making them simple and understandable for others.
• Adapts language to the level of the audience to ensure that the message has a positive impact and is interesting to the audience.
• Is articulate, demonstrates a wide range of vocabulary, and is confident when talking to large/high-level audiences.
• Designs / customises reports to meet user needs.
• Prepares complex or tailored reports, gathers information from a variety of sources, analyses and includes in a report.
• Keeps standard reports under review and proposes improvements to meet user needs.

l) Presentation Skills

• Knows how to deliver arguments persuasively by employing a range of advanced presentation techniques (e.g., the appropriate use of body language, how to close a presentation so that the audience continues to think about the subject matter, etc.).
• Has knowledge of various feedback mechanisms to check levels of audience understanding.

Required Personal Attributes

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

a) Achievement Orientation

• Focuses on new or more effective ways of improving own work and meeting targets.
• Focuses on raising quality, customer satisfaction and revenues.
• Makes specific changes to systems and processes to improve efficiency and quality.
• Formulates own objectives and action plans to achieve a measurable improvement in the future.

b) Analytical Thinking

• Identifies multiple elements of a problem and breaks down each of those elements in detail, showing causal relationships between them.
• Uses several analytical techniques to identify several solutions and weighs the value of each.

c) Conceptual thinking

• Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others and not learned from previous education or experience to explain situations or resolve problems.
• Looks at things in a significantly novel way, breakthrough thinking.

d) Strategic and Innovative thinking

• Recognises opportunities or problems emerging in patterns and trends, and their impact on the business and profitability drivers.
• Applies learning from previous situations and experiences.
• Sees underlying causality in the current situation. Applies business acumen to make sound decisions.
• Recognises opportunities or potential problems, before they become obvious, by seeing the connections in a range of sources of information, including insights from outside DBSA.
• Restates complex knowledge in a way that makes it easier for others to understand.

e) Teamwork

• Acts to promote a friendly climate and good morale and resolves conflicts.
• Creates opportunities for cross‑functional working.
• Encourages others to network outside of their own team/department and learn from their experience.