A European leader for natural resources, infrastructure and power
A sectoral expertise and organisation at the service of customers
Multisector expertise
The business line has expertise in the sectors of natural resources, power generation and distribution, the environment and in the area of infrastructures. The size of examined projects is quite significant with usually over USD 100 million in debt per transaction.
Crédit Agricole CIB has recognised know-how in the areas of financial advisory and arrangement of non recourse credit for new projects or privatisation operations. Bank or bond finance arranged involve commercial banks, export credit agencies or multilateral organisations.
Customised advisory services
Expert in devising innovative solutions, the teams mobilise their know-how to advise their customers. Their close and often long standing cooperation with each of them, the attention paid to their operational and financial objectives and to the constraints of their markets enable the business line to offer bespoke services.
The multi-product sectoral organisation rationale reinforces the Bank's expertise in its advisory business. The business line’s teams operate with different financial techniques for the same clients: project finance, commodities, natural resources finance or Reserve Based Lending.
Global coverage
The Natural Resources, Infrastructures and Power business line has professionals distributed worldwide amongst the regional centres of expertise in Paris, London, Madrid, Milan, New York, Houston, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Sao Paulo and Mumbai.
Natural resources
Oil and gas
Crédit Agricole CIB has acquired over the years specific competency in the oil and gas industries and in petrochemicals worldwide. It has solid expertise in the financing of the main players on these markets. It has consequently developed a particular competence in the financing of the development of oil and gas fields, of the natural gas chain (liquefaction, transport and regasification) as well as with pipelines and gas pipes.
Crédit Agricole CIB’s Upstream Oil & Gas Finance team, comprised of oil and gas specialists, provides i.a. tailored financing solutions to the oil and gas producers worldwide. It arranges finance mainly based on the value of assets (oil reserves) owned by clients.
This covers a broad spectrum of different financings from current operations through to the acquisition and development of new oil fields.
The team comprised of structured finance and oil experts can meet all the requirements of its customers, be they stand alone, domestic oil companies or oil majors.
Commodities structured finance
The business line also offers structured finance which is repaid out of the proceeds from the sell / export of commodities.
Therefore Crédit Agricole CIB offers a wide range of financing solutions to the producers and exporters of commodities worldwide:
- export prefinancing: direct loan to the producer,
- prepayment: loan with limited recourse granted to a buyer to finance the prepayment of a producer’s export,
- barter: exchange of different products for an equivalent amount,
- swap: exchange of a product against the same product of a different quality,
- processing financing: commodities import financing repaid out of the proceeds from exports of semi-processed or finished products.
Centrally organised in London, this activity rests on the know how of experts in different geographical areas (Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Russia, Asia and Central Asia). They receive support from the dedicated network teams in New York, Hong Kong and Moscow.
Infrastructures
Crédit Agricole CIB has now many references as financial advisor or arranger of complex and innovative financial structures in the areas of infrastructures and transport (road, ports, airports and railways).
Crédit Agricole CIB has been present since 1996 on the Private Finance Initiative (PFIPPP* to date. Used to deliver services only after rigorous assessment has shown that it will provide better value for money compared to traditional public sector investment.) market where it has been lead manager particularly in the areas of building, roads and health. It actively participated in the implementation of the regulation relative to the French partnership contracts, a market on which the Bank is a leader (prisons, hospitals, road and railway transport).
Furthermore, at world level, Crédit Agricole CIB structured innovative finance or approaches as part of Private Public Partnerships (PPP). In this connection it has established close contacts with multilateral organisations and the government authorities of many countries with which it has participated to think tanks.
*PFIPPP: Public-Private Partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies.
Electric power generation
Crédit Agricole CIB arranged its first electric power plant financings in the early 1990s, and its long-term commitment in the electric power sector has given it globally recognised experience on both regulated and unregulated markets.
The Bank has financed all types of technologies (combined cycle gas turbine, cogeneration, renewable energies) throughout the world. Financings have focused as much on developing and constructing new units as on large clients’ acquisitions of existing plants.
Over the years, financing techniques have been extended to portfolios of power plants in the framework of acquisitions or privatisations, as has happened in Italy and more recently in Singapore.
Crédit Agricole CIB’s ability to find innovative solutions to financing “firsts” has often been demonstrated and rewarded (first private power plant financings in China, Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria, and the first financing for acquisition of an international portfolio of power plants).
Structured finance advisory
Market leader in project finance advisory, Crédit Agricole CIB has broadened its advisory offer to all structured finance products in all sectors of oil, gas, power, metals, mines and infrastructures.
In these sectors, Crédit Agricole CIB is able to advise clients globally at all stages of large and complex projects or acquisitions. The Bank provides financing solutions by working with a number of different funding sources, including:
- export credit,
- multilateral agencies,
- islamic financial institutions,
- international commercial banks,
- capital markets.
Together with the Investment Bank’s experts, this Advisory department develops a range of strategic products dedicated to clients of various business sectors by leaning on the recognised expertise of Crédit Agricole CIB in this domain.