Service
What family offices are buying, and how we bring their capital into individual projects and real assets.
London UK Zurich CH Dubai UAE and representatives in Paris, Tokyo and Singapore
Capital-intensive projects increasingly require funding that the banking sector alone cannot provide. Since 1987, ICONIC Project Finance Advisory has structured and arranged financing for infrastructure, energy, maritime and public-private partnership transactions, acting for sponsors, governments, lenders, export credit agencies and family offices, with access to more than 600 institutional and private investors. An independent, director-led practice in London, Zurich and Dubai.
Renaud Niche
Global Managing Director
Trust the experienced. All things are conquered by them.
In 1987 we closed our first project financing. The sponsor had a sound asset, a signed offtake contract and not a single bank willing to lend against it on a stand-alone basis. What got the deal done was not a new instrument. It was that the people in the room had been in that room before, and the lenders knew it. Imagine: today that distant, tiny sponsor is valued at USD 0.5 trillion and commands half of the Asian energy sector.
Today one of those rooms belongs to family offices, as a sector we serve and as a service in its own right: we bring family capital into individual projects and real assets, and we advise families on the assets they buy. Family Offices
That is where our motto comes from. Virgil wrote experto credite, believe the one who has been there, and omnia vincit, all things are conquered. We joined the two deliberately: trust the experienced, and all things are conquered by them.
It has described how we work ever since. When a government procures its first public-private partnership, when a shipowner must finance greener tonnage in a market that has stopped lending, when a sponsor has to bring institutional investors to a project they have never seen, the question is always the same: who has done this before, and can we trust them?
Our answer is the team. Directors who have structured, lent, negotiated, restructured and closed since 1987, across five continents, and the relationships that come with that: export credit agencies, development finance institutions, lenders and more than 600 institutional and private investors who take our call because of the deals we have closed together.
Experience is not a promise that a transaction will be easy. It is the reason it closes.
Renaud Niche
Global Managing Director
Frameworks, case studies and market notes from our mandates in project, maritime and energy finance.
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Family offices increasingly buy companies and real assets directly, often with a handful of staff. Research suggests that diligence effort pays, and that who leads it…
Most family offices now name infrastructure as an investment theme, yet most hold none of it. The gap is not appetite. It is access, liquidity and…
Shipowners who treat fleet growth as a sequence of purchases leave value on the table. Those who model timing and mix together can raise capital on…
Offshore wind installation vessels can cost more than US$300m each, yet many specialist vessels work on contracts measured in months. Export credit agencies already bridge that…
Family offices want real assets, but lack a route in, the capacity for due diligence and a way out. We provide all three: we bring their capital into individual projects and real assets, each in its own company; we test what they buy; and after closing we monitor, report and keep a trading desk open for exit.
Our bloodline is strongly related with project sponsors, while we act on behalf of export credit agencies, rating agencies, development finance institutions and debt providers. Our objective is to protect and add value to deals by helping stakeholders identify and mitigate fundamental investment risks, through unbiased due diligence, implementation and operations reviews.
We support governments, institutional banks, lenders, private equity funds, sponsors and contractors in developing their own PPP capabilities and markets: identifying the full range of PPP strategies, defining the role of public governance and devising the principles of PPP good governance.
Strategically located in the most active financial centres of the world, serving business finance, project finance and shipping finance. A wide network of local representatives and independent consultants, with strategic initiatives in Europe, the Middle East and GCC, CIS, Latin America, Asia and North America, equips us for our clients' cross-border challenges.
Four groups of related services: Family Offices, Project Finance and PPP, Maritime and offshore, and Corporate finance. Choose a group, then open a service for its full scope.
Family offices say they want real assets, but they lack a route in, the capacity for due diligence and a way out. IPFA provides all three: we bring family-office capital into projects, test the assets families buy, and keep a way out open through our trading desk.
Shipping & OffshoreInfrastructureEnergyHotels, Real Estate & Construction
One project or asset at a time, each in its own special purpose company, with the structure, the people and the information to do it well.
Advising governments, sponsors, lenders and contractors on large-scale infrastructure, from project evaluation to procurement, financial close, construction and operations.
PowerSolarWind farmsWaterTransportationSocial infrastructureReal estate
Structured large-scale project finance deals. ICONIC can assist you in achieving your aspirations through an investment management approach that integrates strategy, transactions, transformation and technology. Our methodology ensures seamless alignment between finance design and project delivery throughout the entire process, enhancing effectiveness and driving successful investment outcomes.
Helping governments and corporations create partnerships that deliver high-quality public services at the best value for money.
Cross-border funding with improved terms through government-backed export credit agencies. ECA teams in Dubai, London, Zurich, Tokyo, Singapore and Mexico City, partnering with around 30 ECAs worldwide.
Preparing public authorities to play their role in PPPs: policy frameworks, planning and protection of the public interest before legal, contractual and implementation work begins.
A disciplined, project-level approach across the five key stages of a PPP, from identification to the transfer of the facilities back to the public authority.
Models that bridge the gap between wishful thinking and responsible acting, built so that non-financial decision makers understand the parameters that drive viability.
Loans, debt private placement and public bonds: the right instrument for each project and corporate balance sheet, from bank debt to institutional paper.
New alternative sources of financing. Approaching and pitching institutional investors is our way to tackle structural weaknesses in the banking sector which mainly lead to restrained credit growth. Discover how ICONIC expertise may unleash the power of your infrastructure investment and also redefine sustainability to safeguard existing assets and cultivate new value streams.
Tighter regulation, limited bank lending and unsettled investors have changed ship finance. ICONIC taps alternative sources of capital for owners, banks, bondholders and investors, with transactions covering $27B of capital.
ShippingPorts and logisticsFPSOs and offshoreGreener ships
Long-term funding for new and used vessels, with charter fees as the principal source of repayment and collateral structured around the shipbuilding and charter agreements.
Arranger and capital raiser for investment projects in shipping, FPSOs and offshore, from single projects to complex solutions for major companies.
Specialised maritime finance in shipping, ports, logistics and offshore: structures that let fleets meet tighter environmental regulation and new fuels without losing their balance sheets.
Options beyond the hostile bank strategies of the past: mergers, acquisitions and restructuring, and above all off-balance-sheet alternatives.
Corporate finance from valuation to closing: buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, strategy, oil and gas transactions, regulatory advice, due diligence and training.
CorporatesPrivate equityFamily businessesState-owned enterprisesOil and gasGovernments
Estimating the value of businesses and assets, for transactions, financing, restructuring and reporting.
Advice on acquisitions financed mainly with debt, from debt capacity and structure to negotiations with lenders.
Corporate M&A transactions. By leveraging a unique blend of insight garnered from industry expertise and experience cultivated through numerous engagements, our M&A services teams are dedicated to the comprehensive definition and refinement of business growth strategies across a spectrum of transactions and capital management events.
Accelerating value creation in a rapidly evolving business environment.
Strategic joint ventures, acquisitions and disposals, green- and brownfield developments, financing and business restructurings across the value chain.
Guidance on regulatory frameworks and government policy: representing governments on regulatory regimes and advising state-owned companies, including on the midstream distribution, sale and regulatory treatment of natural gas.
A thorough review of a business before an acquisition or investment.
Training programmes on the subjects above, for corporate, government and lender teams.
Our objective is to protect and add value to a deal by helping every stakeholder identify and mitigate the fundamental investment risks, through unbiased due diligence, implementation and operations reviews.
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Greener ships financing structuresShip project financingECA finance, trade finance, loan guarantees and insurance
Greener ships financing structuresDirect institutional investments
Ship financing and capital raisingGreener ships financing structures
Project finance transactionsECA finance, trade finance, loan guarantees and insurance
M&ALeveraged buyoutsDue diligenceDirect institutional investments
M&AAdvisory to institutional investorsProject finance transactions
We sit with project sponsors, and we act on behalf of the institutions that fund them.
Our leadership team is the body and soul of IPFA: finance professionals with first-rate track records and deal execution experience, used to leading multidisciplinary teams on the most complex shipping finance, infrastructure and PPP/PFI transactions.
Over 25 years in environmental engineering and infrastructure project finance across construction, utilities and real estate, with a track record on leading PPP projects in the GCC, North America and Europe.
Asset finance originator, structurer and executioner. Managing Director of Due Diligence and Advisory Services, based in Tokyo and Hong Kong, with deep relationships among institutional investors and investment banks in energy, infrastructure, shipping and renewables.
Fulbright-certified strategic planner. Led Chicago's first activity-based travel demand model and its first 30-year transportation plan, and spearheaded successful local ballot measures for transport funding.
Chartered European Engineer (EUR-ING) and EU-chartered financial analyst (ACCA). With IPFA since 2009, he has turned a long-term CFO role into international project finance advisory.
Three hubs in the world's most active financial centres, local representatives in Europe, the Middle East and GCC, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. Pick your region on the map for the right address.
Middle East and GCC · always.here@ipfa.finance
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We answer within two working days.
Market notes, deals we can talk about and news from the three hubs.
IPFA Insights
Market notes on infrastructure, maritime and ECA finance, and the deals we can talk about. One e-mail a month, no selling.
