Avis de recrutement d’un consultant en financement des investissements pour l’assistance technique, Tokyo, Japon

Avis de recrutement d’un consultant en financement des investissements pour l’assistance technique, Tokyo, Japon

 

 

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) FOR

AN INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT FOR LEVERAGING INVESTMENT FOR AFRICA FROM ASIAN PRIVATE CORPORATIONS

Individual Consultancy Services for Investment Financing Advisories of Non-Sovereign Operation of African Development Bank

TERMS OF REFERENCES (TOR)

Title of the Assignment : Investment Financing Consultant for Technical Assistance

Brief description of the Assignment : Assist multiple events and activities of SNAR

Place of assignment : Tokyo, Japan

Duration of the assignment : A total period of one year

Tentative Date of commencement : 1st April 2022

Deadline for applications : 13th March 2022, 17:00 local time in Tokyo, Japan.

EOI to be submitted to : Naoshige KINOSHITA (n.kinoshita@afdb.org)

EOI to be submitted with : Updated own Curriculum vitae, Proposal for Project

Implementation Any questions and requests for clarifications may be sent to: n.kinoshita@afdb.org

 

 

1. Background :

The African Development Bank (the Bank or AfDB) established in 1964 is the leading development bank on the continent with a mission and objective to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its Regional Member Countries (RMCs), thus contributing to poverty reduction. The AfDB Asia External Representation Office (SNAR) is the Bank’s sole representative office outside Africa, opened in Tokyo, Japan, in 2012. The SNAR’s major objectives are to enhance partnerships and dialogue with Asian countries, promote business and investment opportunities in and with Africa, and widely disseminate and exchange information about the Bank, itself, and development issues and projects in Africa. There are currently four Asian member countries, which are China, India, Japan, and Korea.

Africa’s expanding market and its huge economic potential, together with the initiatives of the governments of Asian countries and public financial institutions for business development in Africa such as TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development), investment in Africa has gained momentum. African Diplomatic Corps (ADCs), a body formed by the African diplomatic missions, based in the four Asian member countries are also doing investment promotional activities for Asian private sector. By taking advantages of the dynamics of calling for investment from Asia and Africa, SNAR, together with ADCs investment promotion committees, will implement a 2-year project to initiate and originate the AfDB’s projects of Non-Sovereign Operations (NSOs) from Asia. The indicative goal of the project is to provide capacity building program for investment promotion committees of ADCs based in the Asian Non-Regional Member Countries, so that ADCs can reinforce its pivotal role in calling for investment to Africa with the AfDB’s financial intervention as a “leverage” to crowd in Asian private finance to Africa, and thereby contributing to increase investment to Africa from the Asian Non-RMCs.

For successfully implement the project, AfDB is going to procure an individual consultant for Investment Financing Advisories of Non-Sovereign Operations of African Development Bank.

The project will be implemented with proceeds of Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA), which is generously financially contributed by the Government of Japan.

 

2. Context of the Assignment :

The project components are as follows :

Component1: Providing knowledge seminar for ADCs investment promotion committees on financial products and services provided by financial institutions, especially Asian public financial institutions and the Bank

Activities under the component will include :

1. Making a series of presentations for members of investment promotion committees of ADCs based in the Asian Non-RMCs. The contents of the presentations will be as follows ;
2. The Bank’s missions and strategies such as the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2013-2022), High 5s, the Bank’s Policy on Non-Sovereign Operations of 2018, the Bank’s commitments for global agenda such as climate change and Paris Agreement ;
3. Case studies on investment projects (including both green and brown field investments) financed and/or co-financed by the Bank and/or by Asian public financial institutions ;
4. Strategic cooperation and partnership between the Bank and financial institutions for promoting investment from Asia to Africa (such as EPSA initiative between the Bank and JICA) ;
5. The Bank’s available financial interventions ;
6. the Bank’s initiatives for promoting investment (e.g. AIF and Japan-Africa Business Forum) ;
7. the Bank’s financial services and product (e.g. debt financing, equity, guarantees, Technical Assistance) and key features of co-financing (such as A/B loan) ;
8. the Bank’s prioritized sector in line with the High 5s (i.e. Light up & power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa) ;
9. general key information for the Bank’s intervention in NSOs such as eligibility criteria and application procedure ;
10. the Bank’s initiatives of the private sector development in Africa  ;
11. Case studies of investment climate of the countries, which yielded successful cases (for example, investment from the Asian Non-RMCs to South East/ South Asian countries) ;
12. In addition to the presentations as mentioned above, the component will involve separate consultation meetings on ad-hoc basis with member(s) of investment promotion committees that are actively promoting private investment from Asia to Africa. The proposed TA project will mainly have consultations for potential project(s) where the financial intervention by financial institutions especially the Bank and Asian public financial institutions with their products and services are considered adequate and feasible.

Component2: Reinforcing investment promotion committees’ functions towards public and private stakeholders based in the Asian Non-RMCs

Activities under component 2 include :

1. Supporting investment promotion committees to hold business promotion seminars for Asian private sector in the Asian Non-RMCs (or in Africa). The project will take advantage of SNAR’s accumulated knowledge and achievement in holding business workshops and relevant events for supporting investment promotion committees to design, implement, and manage the business promotion seminars so that promotional seminars discuss material business topics such as investment promotional policies and incentives of African countries, rules and regulation on investment, contact information of relevant authorities in Asia and Africa for investment consultation in detail ;
2. Supporting enhanced  business  partnership  between  African  private  sector  and  those  of  Asia, especially when business promotion seminars by investment promotion committee have components of business matching. The TA, together with business promotional agencies, support to explain some of available incentives (e.g. supports for survey and TA offered by relevant authorities) for materializing the investment ;
3. For the purpose of supplementing activities of investment promotion committees from the viewpoint of financing, the proposed project will support investment promotion committees to refer available financial intervention by financial institutions, especially Asian public financial institutions and the Bank, during the seminar. If necessary, the Bank will participate in the seminar as co-organizer or sponsor and make presentations for detailed explanation toward participants. The project will in addition, provide support in explaining other major African financing institutions such as Afrexim Bank, Africa 50, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Africa Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and provide reference information for financial structuring ;
4. When African private companies visit the Asian Non-RMCs for events such as accompanying high profile government officials during official visits, the proposed project will facilitate opportunities for business matching with Asian private sectors/investors. To materialize discussion for investment, the project will explain financing products and services of the Bank and Asian government/ public financial institutions for conducting surveys, implementing pilot project and/or making investment ;
5. Supporting investment promotion committees to facilitate participation of Asian government/ public financial institutions in the investment promotion seminars for Asian private sector in seeking opportunities of cooperation, specifically opportunities for co-financing. The expected partners in this regard are CII-Exim Bank in India, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Export– Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation (KIND), and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). In addition to bilateral agencies, the project will also cooperate with multilateral agencies such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for interventions of their investment promotion.

3. When deemed necessary, participating in individual consultation meetings between a member country of investment promotion committees/ ADCs and Asian Private Corporation for discussing investment opportunities in Africa in detail. The proposed project will facilitate the efficient discussion on possibility of utilizing the Bank’s financial products and services. When there is prospective discussion for the Bank’s NSOs, the project will facilitate the Bank’s involvement in discussion for NSO projects identification/ formulation as to be mentioned in the Component 3.

Component3: Identifying and preparing opportunities of financial intervention by financial institutions, especially the Bank and Asian public financial institutions as a leverage to crowd in investment

Activities under the component 3 include :

1. Proactively identify private sector financing opportunities and/or investment projects. The project will share such information on the potential financing opportunities with the Bank’s relevant departments and investment officers responsible for NSOs for further action ;
2. When the project, together with the Bank’s relevant departments and investment officers responsible for NSOs, think that the proposed investment project may meet the eligibility criteria of the Bank for NSOs, the proposed Technical Assistance project will support applicants for documentation for official application of the Bank’s NSO project. If needed, the project will provide advice to the applicants to meet eligibility criteria in the following areas ;
3. Description of the project (sector, location) ;
4. Sponsors, including financial and managerial background ;
5. Cost estimates, including foreign exchange requirements ;
6. Financing plan, indicating the amount of AfDB financing desired ;
7. Key technical and environmental features ;
8. Feasibility indicators ;
9. Business climate, market prospect, including proposed marketing arrangements ;
10. Implementation plan, including the status of required licenses, permits, certificates, etc. ;
11. The TA project will closely communicate with the Bank’s relevant departments and investment officers responsible for NSOs so that the prospective NSO project is in satisfactory level of the Bank’s exploratory review. If required and if deemed, necessary, after consultation with the Task Manager of the Bank, the project will provide support for the collection of information by the Task Manager during drafting of the project documents such as Preliminary Explanatory Note (PEN) ;
12. After the potential project satisfies the Bank’s exploratory review, the TA project will support the Bank’s relevant departments, investment officers and/or task manager to be assigned to the potential project when required and deemed necessary. Specifically, the TA project will facilitate communication with sponsors/applicants and/or co-financers who are mainly based in Asia. The TA project may also support other relevant documentations and analysis works during the preparation of the NSO projects. The indicative contents of documentation to be supported by SNAR will include, but not limited, following topics ;
13. Project description such as project outline, background information of project development and application for the Bank’s financial products and services, and the Bank’s roles ;
14. Client/ sponsor information such as corporate profile, operational management, and financial situations of client/ sponsor in case the client/ sponsor is an Asian private corporation ;
15. Implementation arrangement of the project and roles/responsibilities of each stakeholder ;
16. Strategic alignment of the NSO projects with the Bank’s strategies and priorities ;
17. When processing NSOs, the TA project will occasionally report the progress to investment promotion committees so that they can monitor the progress. The TA project will also report lessons of the NSO project processing to investment promotion committees to enhance their investment promotion activities and to draw lessons for future engagement of Asian private sector players ;
18. The project will closely coordinate with financial institutions such as EXIM Bank of India, JBIC, JICA, KEXIM, and KIND, which may potentially be interested in financing from the initial stage of project identification. The project will monitor those investment projects, which are identified through the TA but are not eligible under the Bank criteria (for example, Buyer’s Credit) ;
19. For supporting NSO project identification/preparation, the proposed TA project will work with PAIF to support the harnessing of Asian investors with AIF initiatives. The proposed TA will continuously interact with Asian investors for effectively originating transactions on the AIF Market Days. Specifically, the project will in this regard have the following activities ;
20. To make general explanations and provide information resources on the Bank’s AIF initiatives toward Asian investors (such as private sector, public agencies, commercial banks, and institutional investors) ;
21. When receiving the AIF Roadshow mission in Asia, to support PAIF in holding roadshow event, having bilateral meetings with Asian investors and other relevant activities, together with SNAR ;
22. To encourage those potential Asian investors to the AIF’s Platform on the web to support their further access to investment opportunities in AIF ;
23. To support to list up the potential Asian investors who attend the AIF on the Market Days and support their attendance in coordination with PAIF ;
24. When Asian investors have opportunities to chair a boardroom discussion on the AIF Market Days, to support them for successful deal close through, for example, supporting to make presentations, to find business partners and debt/equity financer ;
25. In any occasion, to follow up the outcomes of discussions and activities of Asian Investors in related with AIF.

3. Major Tasks of the Consultant :

The overall objective of the consultancy is to support to formulate Bank’s non-sovereign projects. Out of the project components as mentioned above, the Consultant will take a responsibility for providing financial advises for investment project so that a project can be efficient, bankable, and financially viable by collaborating and sharing information with the NSO Project Identification Consultant. In addition, with guidance of the Task Manager of the TA Project, and ultimately Director of SNAR, the Consultant will implement following works :

• Financial advisories

Provide advisory services for the following topics to support to identify potential NSO projects in Asia:

• Project finance ;
• Financial structuring, commercial strategy and tariff setting ;
• Debt arrangement from Asian government agencies, Export Credit Agencies and development financial institutions ;
• Optimizing the financing structure to increase the stakeholders’ returns ;
• Negotiation of the financing terms and financing documents with stakeholders ;
• Financial modelling ;
• Preparation of a detailed and bankable financial model for project bidding ;
• Preparation advanced financial models for business planning & forecasting, valuation and restructuring ;
• Commercial and contractual advice ;
• Advisory contractual structure to ensure mitigation of key commercial risks ;
• Supporting the developer/ off-taker on discussions with EPC & O&M Contractors on key commercial aspects ;
• Support for formulation of the Bank’s NSO project ;
• Support to review and improve the Bank’s internal documents on financial terms in the phases of identification, preparation and appraisal ;
• Provide advices for cost and finance structure, commercial viability, credit risks and so on ;
• Capacity Building presentations for investment promotion committees ;
• When deemed necessary, support to provide capacity building component for investment promotion committees in drafting presentation on investment financing

4. Key Qualifications : 

• Minimum a Master’s degree, or its equivalent, in economics, finance, business administration, engineering, or any other relevant subjects ;
• Professional experience over 8 years including structuring financing in private investment project ;
• Experience in the financial sector preferred. Exposure to infrastructure investment a strong plus ;
• Strong analytical skills to review and analyze complex financial information. Knowledge and experience in global financial markets including expertise in emerging markets, particularly in Africa ;
• Advanced financial, credit and risk evaluation skills, with demonstrated ability to structure and negotiate a variety of complex financial instruments (debt and equity) ;
• Experience in identifying, originating and qualifying new business opportunities developing and executing results-driven client engagements ;
• Excellent business judgment and problem solving skills to identify issues, present creative, practical solutions, and make and commit to sound decisions, anticipating short and long term implications ;
• Additional working experience in private sector is an added advantage ;
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills ;
• Fluency in English or French, with working knowledge of the other language ;
• Practical skills for handling Chinese, Japanese or Korean.

The Consultant must be a citizen of a Member Country of the African Development Bank.

https://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/corporate-information/members

 

5. Duration and Location of the Assignment :

The duration of this consultancy will be for a total period of one year. The Consultant will work at the Bank’s Asia External Representation Office in Tokyo, Japan, unless otherwise requested by the Head of SNAR.

 

6. Reporting Requirements :

The assignment shall be conducted under the overall direction and supervision of the Task Manager of the TA Project and Director of SNAR.

 

7. Travels :

The Consultant may have opportunities of business trip to the Asian Non-RMCs and Africa such as Côte d’Ivoire (the location of headquarters of AfDB). The travel expenses will be paid in US Dollar.

 

8. Remuneration :

Remuneration of the Consultant will depend on the Consultant’s experience in accordance with the Bank’s procurement guidelines. The remuneration will be paid in US Dollar. A candidate will be responsible for obtaining personal health insurance at his or her own cost. The coverage should include all medical expenses, including those resulting from illness or injury incurred during the duration of the assignment. If an international travel is required for reporting duty to SNAR in Tokyo, a round trip travel cost in economy class will be compensated.

 

9. Transparency and compliance with the policy of the Bank :

The result of the selection among shortlisted candidates will be publicly open through the AfDB website for assuring the transparency of the selection. The selected Consultant shall comply with the policy of the Bank.

 

10. Other :

There is a possibility that the Consultant is required to work from home virtually under the Work from Home (WFH) regulation and guideline in AfDB during pandemic period.