IPFA Council of Management

Geoffrey is the Founder and Chairman of the International Project Finance Association (IPFA), the largest international independent non-profit trade association for the Project Finance industry in the world. The IPFA has branches across Europe, Australia, Nigeria, Asia Pacific, South Africa and the US.

Geoffrey lectures extensively on PPPs and has had many articles published. He also advises governments, municipalities and private sector consortia on the introduction and implementation of PPPs. He also conducts training courses for governments and the private sector. He has recently set up an Academic Forum for Universities and educational institutions around the world to encourage the teaching of project finance in first degree, postgraduate and business school courses.

Recent training programs include European Investment Bank and Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

ghaley@ipfa.org

Mark Courtneidge joined Aon 16 years ago with a broad background in insurance spanning 33 years.  Prior to joining Aon, Mark held the senior positions in the insurance departments of Costain Group and Trafalgar House Group.  These roles included placement of the Group’s insurance programme, contract review, and claims resolution.

Mark has written in numerous PPP/PFI journals and spoken at conferences globally on risk and insurance issues.  His project experience includes:  Numerous Infrastructure projects dating back to Dartford River Crossing, and including A55 DBFO and A130 DBFO, as well as a broad range of other PPP/PFI projects in UK and abroad, in numerous sectors advising SPV’s, Authorities and Financiers, including Colchester Garrison and Project Allenby/Connaught, the       Home Office detention sector and South Tees and Newcastle Hospitals

mark.courtneidge@aon.co.uk

John Deighton is Director, Private Finance at Halcrow Group, a global civil Engineering consultant (www.halcrow.com) , where he leads their Lenders Technical Advisory business.
John’s area of expertise is in providing high quality Technical Advice to Lenders and strategic advice to Concessionaires participating in privately funded projects.

John is a chartered civil engineer with over 35 years experience in transport related infrastructure projects.

As a PPP Lenders Technical advisor he has been involved in some of the largest European PPP projects including , Attiki Odos Motorway, Korinth – Tripolis- Kalamata Motorway, Waterford Bypass, Birmingham City Highways PFI, Thessaloniki Submerged Tunnel and Maliakos- Kleidi Motorway.

John has been an IPFA Global Council Member since 2001 and an IPFA Non Executive director since 2003.

John is a member of the British Expertise Project Finance Group, a former member of the UK PPP Export group and a member of TheCityUK’s PPP and Projects Group. Through these groups and IPFA , John actively promotes the value of whole life ring-fencing of Operation and Maintenance costs within PPP.

deightonjr@halcrow.com

Mark, a partner with in the leading international law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (www.blplaw.com) within their Projects & Infrastructure Finance Team.

Mark has over 15 years of experience in providing multidisciplinary advice to public and private sector clients on a wide range of high value, innovative and complex infrastructure projects structured using PPP techniques.   

Mark has been involved in some of the most high profile PPP and infrastructure deals both in the UK and overseas, including advising on equity (including secondary market trades), debt structures, infrastructure fund trades, leasing/structured finance and concession based structures.

Mark is recognised as a leading PFI/PPP adviser and is rated as a PFI/PPP expert in the latest edition of Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession. 

He regularly writes, chairs and addresses audiences on Global PPP structures.

Mark is qualified as a Solicitor in England & Wales and also a New York State Attorney.

mark.richards@blplaw.com

After eleven years with Morgan Grenfell in London and New York, he joined The Sumitomo Bank Ltd. (now merged with Sakura Bank to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) in 1993 to head the Project Finance Advisory Group.

He managed the bank’s Infrastructure and PPP team in London from 1996 to 2009 focusing on underwriting and lead arranging project financings in PFI/PPP projects in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. SMBC is now one of the top ranked lead arrangers of PFI/PPP debt and was nominated Best PPP Funder by Public Private Finance magazine for 2008.

Since March 2007, the London team, together with their New York colleagues, lead arranged the Alberta Schools deal in Canada, which was the first bank/bond deal in the Canadian social infrastructure market, and, with the Singapore team, the ITE West PPP project, the first education sector PPP in Singapore. In the Netherlands, the London team arranged the country's first defence PPP, Kromhout Barracks, and the Rotterdam Detention Centre, while in Germany the bank arranged the Kiel Particle Therapy Centre which is the largest health PPP there to-date.

He has been responsible for developing SMBC’s Infrastructure and PPP lending activities outside the UK, particularly in the Netherlands, Italy, France and Germany. This has extended to the Middle East where SMBC now has offices and branches in Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain.

The bank has acted as lead arranger for the first two university PPP projects in Abu Dhabi.

In December 2008, SMBC was named “Global Project Finance Bank of the Year” by Project Finance International.

Having chaired the International Project Finance Association’s Middle East Committee since April 2008, he joined the IPFA Board in July 2009 and is now the Board Director responsible for developing IPFA’s activities in Africa.

He is now based at SMBC Europe’s Paris Branch.

Iain Watts is a Director of Northcroft and part of their Infrastructure Team, leading commissions and advising clients on various aspects of their infrastructure portfolios and projects.

Iain is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and has over 15 years’ experience within the construction industry in all aspects of Infrastructure, particularly within the transportation sector and the regulated industry environment, with the ability to challenge and drive value for clients through the entire programme and project cycle.  As a technical advisor he has supported clients in their master planning, business and capital planning, funding and development stages of projects reviewing and analysing the financial implications of individual projects as part of a wider capex programme.  He has advised and supported clients in major procurement exercises at a Framework and Project level.  Specific programme and projects include major aviation & rail infrastructure and building projects across the UK.

Jeffery is recognised as one of the leading practitioners in the fields of Project Finance and Banking.  He has worked on numerous Infrastructure and Energy Projects both in theUK and internationally.  He has also held a number of management positions within Norton Rose. 

He is the firm’s representative with and sits on the London Council of theCBIand is also heavily involved in promoting the City’s interests.  He sits on the GCC and thePFI/PPP working groups of the TheCity UK, chairs the Middle East committee of the IPFA and is on the editorial board of Butterworth’s Journal of International Banking and Financial Law. 

He has had a heavy involvement in energy projects in the Middle East for many years and has been involved in most of the I(W)PPs in the region since he led the team advising lenders on the US$1 Billion financing for the Taweelah A1 IWPP in Abu Dhabi.