The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office (IFFO) held the second Investors' and Debt Financing Roundtables on October 25-26, attended by more than 70 senior representatives from international long-term institutional investors, debt financiers, multilateral financial institutions, project owners and developers, and other key stakeholders in infrastructure financing.
 
     The main themes of this year's Roundtables included collaboration and co-investment in emerging markets, and recent innovations to enhance bankability of infrastructure projects, making use of case studies. The Debt Financing Roundtable also discussed IFFO's Reference Term Sheet for Non-Recourse Infrastructure Loans in Emerging Markets, which sets out the basic criteria and financiers' preferences in respect of infrastructure loans' legal framework, compliance with environmental, social and governance standards, risk mitigation measures and financial structuring. The term sheet is aimed to provide project owners and developers with a tool to make their projects more "bankable" and to facilitate private sector financing into projects in emerging markets.

     The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Norman Chan, hosted the two Roundtables. He said, "I am pleased to see the continued strong interest from public and private sector stakeholders at the IFFO Roundtables in infrastructure investments. The discussions on co-investment experiences and on measures that would make infrastructure projects more bankable or investible were very timely. IFFO will continue to serve as a facilitator and catalyst for more effective capital flows into infrastructure projects in emerging market economies."

     IFFO also announced that five new institutions have joined as partners, bringing the total number of IFFO partners to 95. The new partners are (in alphabetical order):

1. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited
2. CRRC Corporation Limited
3. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
4. Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited
5. OMERS

     For more information about IFFO, please visit www.iffo.org.hk.

Ends/Friday, October 26, 2018
Issued at HKT 17:50

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