World Bank Group Publishes New Report On Resource Financed Infrastructure, Co-Authored by Hunton & Williams Lawyers

WASHINGTON — June 30, 2014 — The World Bank Group recently published Resource Financed Infrastructure: A Discussion on a New Form of Infrastructure Financing. The report provides an analytical discussion of “resource financed infrastructure” (RFI) transactions, a new finance model whereby a government pledges its future revenues from a resource development project to repay a loan used to fund construction of infrastructure. The focus of the report is a study written by Hunton & Williams lawyers.

The Hunton authors—partner and head of the firm’s business practice group and its Africa practices, John J. Beardsworth, Jr., and counsel on the firm’s energy and infrastructure team, James A. Schmidt—collaborated on the report with Håvard Halland, World Bank Group natural resource specialist, and Bryan C. Land, World Bank Group lead mining specialist. Six internationally reputed economists and policymakers provide excellent additional insights and perspectives to the report as commentators. The commentators include Paul Collier, Alan Gelb, Justin Yifu Lin, Yan Wang, Clare Short and Louis Wells.

“The first instances of this new financing model, as used in countries with bountiful natural resources yet poor infrastructure, attracted both attention and criticism,” says Beardsworth. “Our study examines and describes structural and financial issues that governments and other stakeholders might consider—when adopting the RFI model—to increase transparency and sustainability, and to improve benefits for the country, the investors, and the lenders.”

Beardsworth and Schmidt intend the study to frame an in-depth discussion on this new form of financing. Financial, structural, and operational issues of RFI transactions are highlighted in detail in the report, as well as the early experiences and origins of the RFI model. The World Bank Group’s insights—and the perspectives provided by the commentators—move this discussion forward in valuable ways.

Hunton & Williams has advised the World Bank Group and other lenders, governments, project sponsors, and equity investors in major energy and infrastructure projects throughout Africa and in other emerging markets for more than 25 years. In addition, Schmidt served as lead attorney for energy and regulatory reform matters in the legal department of the World Bank Group from 1996‒1998.