Commodities and natural resources advisory and financing

The business line boasts top-flight expertise in the natural resources sectors, from electricity generation and distribution to the environment and infrastructure. The scale of the projects reviewed is substantial, generally exceeding $100 million in debt per transaction.

Crédit Agricole CIB has recognised expertise in financial advisory and non-recourse credit arrangements for new projects or privatisations. The Bank or bond financing is arranged with commercial banks, export credit agencies or multilateral organisations.
 

Experts in developing original solutions, the teams bring all their expertise to bear in advising their clients. The business line provides tailor-made services by working closely with each client and taking full account of their operational, financial and market constraints.

Crédit Agricole CIB's multi-product, multi-sector organisational approach reinforces its advisory expertise. Its teams use a range of financial techniques for the same clients, including project finance, commodities and natural resources finance and reserve-based lending.

The business line operates from regional centres of expertise in Paris, London, Madrid, Milan, New York, Houston, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Sao Paulo and Mumbai.
 

Over the years, the Bank has built up specific knowledge of the oil, gas and petrochemical industries on a global scale. It has solid expertise in financing the main players in these markets. It has developed specific expertise in financing the development of oil and gas resources, the liquefied natural gas chain (liquefaction, transport and regasification) and oil and gas pipelines.

The Upstream Oil & Gas Finance team, comprising oil and gas specialists, provides tailor-made financing solutions to oil and gas producers around the world. It arranges financing based primarily on the value of the assets (oil reserves) held by its clients. These financings cover a wide range of aspects, from current operations to new field development and acquisition.

With structured finance experts and oil engineers, the team meets all the needs of its clients, from independent oil companies to majors and national companies.

The business line also arranges structured financing, reimbursed by the proceeds from the sale or export of commodities.

The Bank offers a wide range of financing solutions to commodity producers and exporters around the world:

• pre-export financing: direct loan to the producer,
• pre-payment: loan, with limited recourse, to a buyer to finance the pre-payment of a producer's exports,
• barter: exchange of different products for an equivalent amount,
• swap*: exchange of a product for the same product, but of different quality, 
• processing financing: financing of commodities imports, reimbursed by income from exports of first-stage processing or finished products.

Centrally organised in London, this business draws on the expertise of geographical teams based in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Russia, Asia and Central Asia. They are supported by dedicated teams in the network in New York, Hong Kong and Moscow.

*Swap: A transaction in which two parties exchange financial flows, such as one interest rate for another (interest rate swap) or one currency for another.

Crédit Agricole CIB has extensive references as a financial advisor or arranger of complex and innovative financing structures in the field of infrastructure and transport (including roads, ports, airports and railways). 

Crédit Agricole CIB has been active in the Private Finance Initiative* market since 1996 and is a leader in the construction, roads and healthcare sectors.  It has actively contributed to the implementation of French partnership contract legislation and is a leader in this market (prisons, hospitals, road and rail transport).

Internationally, the Bank has structured financing or developed innovative approaches in the context of public-private partnerships*. This has enabled the Bank to establish close contacts and long-term dialogue with multilateral agencies and government authorities in many countries.

*Private Finance Initiative (PFI): The most successful and popular form of public-private partnership to date. Implemented after rigorous assessments, this type of financing has proven to be more efficient than traditional public sector investment.

*Public Private Partnership (PPP): PPPs are a financing vehicle whereby a public authority calls on private providers to finance and manage assets that provide or contribute to a public service.