ADB Seminar and Private Sector Event

Investing in Infrastructure in Asia – Mobilizing Private Sector Resources

Thursday, 4 May 2017, 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Panelists

Michael BarrowDirector General, Private Sector Operations Department, ADB

Michael Barrow is director general for ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department, handling all of ADB's private infrastructure and financial institutions investments, lending and guarantees. Prior to ADB, Mr. Barrow worked for the Deutsche Bank group and was senior vice president in the Structure Finance Department of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. He was educated at the Lycee Internationale in Paris and obtained an MA in oriental studies from Oxford University.

Anita GeorgeManaging Director, South Asia, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)

Anita Marangoly George has a solid track record in managing global investment portfolios in infrastructure, specifically in the energy, oil and gas, mining, water, transportation and logistics sectors. She was appointed CDPQ’s managing director for South Asia in April 2016 and oversees its investments of over $2 billion in India. Ms. George holds bachelor's degrees in economics and Spanish from Smith College, United States, and a master's in economics and an MBA in finance from Boston University, United States.

Liqun JinPresident and Chair, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Mr. Liqun Jin is the president and chair of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Before being elected as AIIB’s first president, Mr. Jin served as secretary-general of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat (MIS) tasked with establishing the bank. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jin served as chair of China International Capital Corporation, chair of the Supervisory Board of China Investment Corporation, vice-president ADB, and vice-minister of the Chinese Ministry of Finance.

Hideo NaitoManaging Executive Officer and Global Head of Infrastructure and Environment Finance Group, Japan Bank for International Cooperation

Hideo Naito entered the former Export-Import Bank of Japan in 1985 and served for more than 30 years in various sections. After leading the Power and Water Finance Department and Project Finance Committee, he became director general for corporate planning until June 2015, when he was appointed to his current position in the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. He also serves as a visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University and as a visiting fellow at Kyoto University on project finance.

Serge PunChair, Serge Pun & Associates (Myanmar) Ltd.

Serge Pun is the chair of the SPA Group and of the group’s Singapore-listed affiliate, Yoma Strategic Holdings. In 1983, he founded Serge Pun & Associates Limited in Hong Kong and established SPA Myanmar in 1991. The group is one of Myanmar’s leading corporations with over 40 operating companies in financial services, real estate development, automotive, agriculture, the services industry, luxury travel & tourism, retail & distribution, transportation & infrastructure development, and education.

Christina VerchereChristina VerchereRegional President, BP Asia Pacific, BP

Christina Verchere was appointed in 2014 as regional president of BP Asia Pacific region based in Jakarta, responsible for all of BP’s exploration and production activities in the region including managing operations in Indonesia, Australia, People's Republic of China, Viet Nam, as well as marketing and support offices in Japan, Republic of Korea, and Singapore. Ms. Verchere has more than 20 years of industry experience with BP in commercial, gas business, project, exploration, and unconventional oil/gas. Prior to her role in Asia and the Pacific, she was regional president, Canada.

Moderator

Toni WatermanToni WatermanPrimeTime Business Anchor, Channel NewsAsia

Toni Waterman is a multimedia journalist with over a decade of global experience. She is Channel NewsAsia’s primetime business anchor, anchoring PrimeTime Business, PrimeTime World Business and Business Tonight. Toni has traveled extensively throughout Asia reporting on the intersection of global economics, politics, culture and technology. She has led the channel’s coverage of the Tran-Pacific Partnership negotiations, the development of the ASEAN Economic Community and the formation of China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Ms. Waterman has also produced and fronted numerous in-depth specials on Asia’s tiger economies, most recently in Thailand and Indonesia, and played a key role in CNA’s coverage of Brexit and the US presidential election.

Seminar Summary

An eminent panel of speakers discussed the aspirations for and challenges to increasing investment in quality infrastructure in Asia, particularly what could be done to bring more bankable projects to market.

Ms. Waterman opened the session by asking each of the panelists what major obstacles are facing infrastructure financing in Asia. President Jin of AIIB talked about the strong support that AIIB had received from ADB and other development finance institutions (DFIs), since the promotion of infrastructure investment is a common goal. Accessing money for quality projects is not the challenge; what is required is macroeconomic stability, a supportive regulatory policy, and well-coordinated infrastructure development. Mr. Naito of JBIC added that there is a lack of good bankable projects in the region to finance.

Ms. Anita George of CDPQ, whose long-term pension fund only focuses on five countries (namely India, the People’s Republic of China, and three Latin American economies), said that consistency in policy is important to support CDPQ’s long-term equity investments, which can be up to US$200 million per project. Mr. Pun called for massive infrastructure investment in Myanmar, noting that it is the responsibility of funding institutions to ensure that the projects they present are well structured and environmentally compliant in order to meet the needs of their investors. Ms. Verchere shared the BP’s experience of the recently closed multibillion Tangguh liquefied natural gas expansion in Papua Barat, Indonesia, and how important JBIC and ADB (both lenders to the project) were in ensuring that the project met the highest international standards especially in the area of safeguards, where ADB's policies “raised the bar.”

Mr. Barrow commented that the majority of pension companies who can provide long-term financing are not interested in Asia. He said that DFIs play an important role in assuring such investors that well-structured infrastructure projects in developing economies in Asia are not risky. ADB has had a very positive record in this regard to date; groundbreaking transactions in Afghanistan were cited as an example.

The conversation moved towards the importance of developing local financing as well as local currency bonds. With regards to local financing, Ms. Verchere commented that while there was no local financing available in Indonesia for the initial two trains of Tangguh, for the recent expansion involving the third train there was a small percentage of local financing available, which was viewed as a welcome indicator that the local currency market had developed in Indonesia once BP had set a well-structured benchmark. Mr. Barrow highlighted a notable recent example of local bond financing: the Tiwi-Makban geothermal facilities in the Philippines, which had credit enhancement by both ADB and the Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility, a multilaterial facility established by the ASEAN+3 and ADB. He spoke of the need to do more of these types of local bond issues.

All the panelists agreed on the great need for more innovative financing solutions (with an interesting discussion on whether crowdfunding would be effective for smaller local projects) especially when some economies can leapfrog older technologies and move straight toward the latest developments, like 4G mobile rather than landlines.

Pigeonhole Live is an interactive Q&A platform that empowers conference audiences to speak up and be heard. Go to www.pigeonhole.at and use the event code ADBAM50

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