The primary thrust of this latest episode of Infra Dig – IJGlobal’s podcast service – is the financing mechanism that underpins the delivery and operation of billions of dollars of infrastructure around the world… and how project finance is evolving.  

IJGlobal content director Angus Leslie Melville sits down for an enlightening interview with Ravi Suri, global head of sustainable finance and impact investing at KPMG. 

In a podcast that lends itself to the “masterclass” category, Ravi takes the listener through the evolution of project finance from its early years, bringing it right up to date showcasing its evolution over the years. 

The podcast runs for slightly less than 27 minutes and can be accessed on Spotify (embedded above) as well as through Apple Podcasts and the Amazon service. It is also hosted across a slew of other platforms and is open access on all of them.

Ravi (pictured right) starts off by harking back to the early years of project finance – the 1980s up to the millennium – explaining the mechanism and how it was tailored for infrastructure and energy. Then he moves on to more recent style of PF, outlining how it was deployed in the early years of the century. Finally, he explains how it has evolved to match requirements of the market in the 2020s.

In a world where financing is pivoting towards supporting Net Zero ambitions, the old style of project finance is not fit for purpose and the modern model needs a tweak or 2 to meet requirements.

Ravi gives a well-informed view of the financing models and how they are evolving to support global efforts to tackle climate change, lending experience from years of working as a lender, financial adviser and equity investor into infrastructure and energy across the planet.

Anyone interested in the dynamics of project finance would be well advised to listen in to the latest podcast for an informed view of how the tool has been deployed and how it is being evolved to meet the needs of the market today.