?I feel I have been living in a maelstrom!? says Christopher Clement Davies, Vinson & Elkins's new partner. No wonder. In the past six years he has been recruited three times by leading City institutions. Not bad for someone who, in his university years, considered a career in Westminster rather than in the City of London. He even became vice-president of the Oxford Union Debating Society when the UK conservative opposition leader William Hague was president. In addition, his grandfather was a leader of the liberal party. But now he is ?increasingly cynical about the modern political world? and ?far too dedicated? to his City career to even think about it.

A career in politics might have not happened, but Clement-Davies is having a quick one in project finance. 10 years ago he was offered a position as assistant to Adrian Montague at law firm Linklaters & Paines, who had set up one of the first specialist project finance teams in a law firm in the City. Most recently, Clement-Davies's name hit the headlines of the legal and financial press; when he moved from Wilde Sapte to Vinson & Elkins, he was quoted as an example of US law firms' increasing tendency to headhunt UK lawyers.

While at Linklaters, Clement-Davies worked on transactions such as the UK electricity and rail privatization, the Bangkok Expressway project in Thailand. He has also worked on the Killingholm power station in the UK, and the Second Severn and Skye Crossing projects, two prototypes of Private Finance Intitiative deals. He defines that time of his career as ?the opportunity years for many project financiers?, because the volume of transactions financed by this methodology roughly doubled every year, and the financing techniques ?rapidly evolved in sophistication and complexity?. Clement-Davies recalls that the Linklaters project group ultimately proved to be the victim of its own success ? ?although it still enjoys an outstanding reputation'? as several of its leading members were recruited by other organizations. Montague became head of projects at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, before being offered the post chief executive at the Treasury Taskforce.

Clement-Davies joined SG Warburg in 1993, where the department heads were eager to expand their specialist projects team, ?viewing the growth of the project finance market as one of the most significant developments of the 1990s?. ?I originally had no intention of becoming an investment banker,? says Clement-Davies. ?But I came to the conclusion that this position at this bank represented a very exciting new career move. There are numerous areas of overlap between the work of the financial advisers and that of the lawyers in the project field.?

Paul Knight, managing director at SG Warburg, points out that Clement-Davies's combination of legal and banking skills turned out to be a great asset, especially when the team worked on the Sakhalin Island II Oil and Gas Project in Russia. ?There were a number of times when the legal issues did not fit in a box and there was a tremendous mix of legal and financial issues. He was able to deal with both at the same time.?

Clement-Davies joined Vinson & Elkins in December 1998 as a partner specializing in international project finance, public-private partnerships, privatizations and joint ventures in both developed countries and emerging markets. According to a source, he's experteese in water projects is particularly appreciated in the project finance market and Vinson & Elkins might have had this in mind when recruiting him. At the moment, for example, he is working as adviser with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on two of its water-sector projects in Eastern Europe. John Ale, head of the legal department at Enron subsidiary Azurix and former partner at Vinson & Elkins, was ?instrumental? in hiring Christopher Clement-Davies. ?I would not be surprised to see him working with Azurix soon,? says Ale. He also agrees with Knight that one of the secrets for Clement Davies's success is ?being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together?.

Carlos Quintas, principal banker at the EBRD's municipal and environmental insfrastructure, says that Clement-Davies is ?very good with concession-type projects? because he is ?very knowledgeable and a good negotiator,? a skill which is important in Eastern Europe, where clients often have very little experience with this form of financing. In addition to working with the EBRD, Clement-Davies is involved in the BOT-Group at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which has among its objectives the promotion of public-private partnerships throughout the world.

Going global?

Among the reasons that attracted Clement-Davies to Vinson & Elkins was the fact that ?the firm's management team is giving full attention to the subject of international growth, the strength in the energy field, the size of the project finance practice and of its client base.? Many US firms are starting operations in the UK for the first time and headhunting UK lawyers. ?Many English lawyers are nervous about joining US firms, given the reputation of some of them for ruthless internal cometition and bottom-line focus,? says Clement-Davies. But Vinson & Elkins ?measures up exceptionally well against that perception, because it gives priority to the issue of ?collegiality' and it prides itself on its long-term committment to all its recruits ? partners and attorneys alike?.

Clement-Davies considers one of his main achievements to be the advisory work he did for the UK's export credit agency ECGD on the Bangkok Epressway project. Clement-Davies says: ?It was one of the first build-operate-trasfer project in Thailand. I was very junior and I had to carry a lot of responsibility. Negotiating the concession agreement with the Thai government was something of a baptism of fire!?

He considers working on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link as one of the most interesting challenges in his career because of ?its sheer size and complexity?. He says: ?It was the flagship PFI project, breaking new ground in terms of structure, risk allocation and tendering process.? At the same time, he points out that the competition to win and take control of the project was formidable, with four international, multi-party consortia spending millions of pounds on their bids. ?We needed a winning strategy as well as innovative finance structure. Our role went way beyond that of a typical professional adviser.?

A long track record

Having been in project finance for 10 years, Clement-Davies has witnessed many changes in the field. He points out that 10 years ago build-operate-transfer structures and concession agreements were a relatively rare phenomenon for City lawyers. Now we have seen dozens in the UK alone and numerous banks and law firms now have project finance teams, which heightens competitive pressures. ?The financing techniques involved have become much more sophisticated and the tools of risk analysis and allocation much more refined. The growing interest in exporting PFI abroad is likely to give fresh impetus to this pattern,? he says.

According to Clement-Davies, ?many of the old nostrums of project finance have been overturned?, such as the the idea of confining capital markets to a post-completion refinancing phase. ?New approaches involving, for example, the bundling of projects, refinement of political risk insurance, bolder use of local funding sources, more efficient tender processes are being devised all the time?. According to Clement-Davies, the financial crisis in emerging markets has somewhat boosted this re-examination of some fundamentals of project finance.

At Wilde Sapte, where he worked between 1995 and 1998, he says that the most interesting aspect was ?learning how to develop a team and grow a new practice area?. Another interesting aspect of this experience has been ?understanding the real challenges of globalization and the issues raised by the expansion and the merger of law firms internatioanally?. At Wilde Sapte, he was a member of the firm's banking and asset finance teams, the project finance group, and the Eastern European and Private Finance Initiative group. Among the projects he has worked on during those years are the Fort Williams & Inverness PFI project in Scotland, UK, and the Virgin Rail bids for Thameslink and WCML rail franchises.

Personality matters

He is known in the market to have quite a strong personality. But, according to Azurix's John Ale, ?he is very much of a team player?. People he has worked with have a high opinion of him, even though one admits that he can ?get very tied up into an issue? and, being quite expressive, there have been occasions when he has been ?visually outraged?. ?But that is a very genuine reaction,? the source admits. ?Sometimes he feels quite strongly about a fact, but at the end of the day he is always respectful of clients.?

Apart from this, former colleagues struggled to find defects. Someone points out that, if anything, ?he is very ?English'? with his pin-striped suits and a sometimes rather strange collection of shirts to go with them.?

In any case, it is not only Clement-Davies's experience as an adviser for project finance transactions which is very appreciated. ?He is always a good source of advice on ski,? says a former client. He also finds time to practice music, theatre and photography. ?He is a very talented musician,? says Hilali Nordeen, a distinguished surgeon who has known him since school days. London-based Project financiers interested in classical music might like to know that Clement-Davies will take part in a concert at St John's Smith Square in the autumn of 1999.

Perhaps being a successful project financier is not just about structuring deals, margins and spreads, but also about being versatile. On Clement-Davies, his friend Nordeen says: ?He workes hard and plays hard.? ?Christopher is one of the most honest and upright persons I have ever come across and he never compromises on his moral principles. That would not have made him a good politician.? Another friend warns us to keep on eye on Clement-Davies. Among project finance lawyers ?he is one of the rising stars,? he says.