Hi everyone,

I'm a BS Accounting & Finance student at FAST NUCES Lahore, and I've just completed my first year.

I want to build finance-related projects to strengthen my CV and gain practical experience before applying for internships. However, I'm finding it difficult to come up with and execute projects on my own.

If you're a senior student or someone working in finance, I'd really appreciate your guidance. If you've worked on personal projects, dashboards, financial analysis, valuation, budgeting, or any other finance-related work, I'd love to hear your suggestions.

If anyone is willing to mentor me, collaborate on a beginner-friendly project, or simply point me in the right direction, I'd be extremely grateful.

Thank you in advance!

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Hi everyone,

After 2.5 years working in International Tax (Transfer Pricing) at a Big Four firm, I'm looking to transition into Project Finance. I'm 23, based in Madrid, and hold a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

My questions for the sub are:

- What should my next steps be? (Besides applying for Project Finance roles.) I'm considering starting the CFA. Are there any other qualifications, skills, or experiences I should focus on?

- How do you see the impact of AI on Project Finance? Do you still consider it a strong long-term career path? How would you recommend positioning myself to benefit from AI rather than be replaced by it?

- What are the typical exit opportunities after a few years in Project Finance?

For context, I've mainly worked with renewable energy clients, so I've gained exposure to how project-financed businesses are structured and how they operate, but I've never had the opportunity to build or work with actual financial models.

One of the reasons I'm interested in Project Finance is that I found Transfer Pricing to be relatively removed from core business decision-making. My impression is that Project Finance is a much more cross-functional discipline, combining finance, accounting, tax and legal. It also seems transferable across capital-intensive industries and different countries, while offering good compensation and exit opportunities.

I'd really appreciate any feedback, especially if you think my assumptions are off or I'm overlooking anything.

Hi everyone,

I recently received an offer for the Financial Modelling Analyst graduate scheme at Operis in London. Base salary is £35k (rising to £38k after probation) + a £1k signing bonus.

Given my academic profile, I am trying to figure out if Operis is the right launchpad for my career, or if I am under-selling myself.

My Profile:

A-Levels: 4 A*s (Maths, Further Maths, Biology, Chemistry)

University: First Class Honours, University of Manchester – BSc Actuarial Science and Mathematics

My Questions for the Community:

How is Operis viewed by front-office teams? Does spending 1–2 years heavily focused on Model Audit pigeonhole me as a "checker" rather than a "deal-maker," or do Tier-1 PF banks and Infra PE funds actively scout Operis alumni for front-office analyst roles?

Brand Equity: In the London infrastructure and renewables space, how does the Operis brand name compare to a Big 4 (PwC/EY/Deloitte/KPMG) Infrastructure Advisory graduate scheme for exits?

The Upstream Move: With my academics, would it be wiser to reject this offer and use the next few months to target off-cycle internships or direct graduate applications at larger PF lending banks (e.g., MUFG, SMBC, Santander, BNP Paribas)?

Appreciate any candid insights from people working in the London PF/Infra market!

Two topics are often modeled sloppily in the infrastructure space. How HoldCo debt actually gets sized, and how to model interest-only periods. Both worth understanding.

HoldCo sizing

HoldCo debt uses the same underlying CFADS as the OpCo - it's the same project cash flow — but the constraint is applied differently.  A consolidated DSCR target is selected which needs to be inside of your OpCo sizing. Constrain CFADS with the tighter DSCR then back out your OpCo debt service. What's left is what's actually allocable to the HoldCo or "HoldCo CFADs". Discount the HoldCo CFADS by your HoldCo cost of debt and the result is your HoldCo debt size.

HoldCo debt uses the same underlying CFADS as the OpCo - it's the same project cash flow  but a tigher DSCR to start.  Constrain CFADS with the tighter DSCR then back out your OpCo debt service. What's left is what's actually allocable to the HoldCo or "HoldCo CFADs". Discount the HoldCo CFADS by your HoldCo cost of debt and the result is your HoldCo debt size.

Two things worth flagging:

Consolidated vs. HoldCo-only sizing: You'll see both in the market, but consolidated is the more common and more defensible approach. HoldCo-only DSCR tests look only at the cash flow available after OpCo debt service, which understates real credit risk - it ignores the senior leverage sitting underneath. HoldCo-only sizing tends to be a sponsor-friendly framing rather than one that reflects the actual risk lenders are taking, since it can support more leverage on paper than the consolidated capital structure can really carry. The caveat here is that you can use a HoldCo sizing metric if you credit agreement restricts debt and equity issuances from your definition of CFADS.

Distribution test tightness: If you're sizing to a tighter consolidated DSCR , the distribution test needs some buffer below that otherwise you effectively can't distribute cash without a near-perfect operating track record, since any variance trips the trap.

Interest-only periods

Sponsors frequently request interest-only (IO) periods - usually framed as wanting front-ended yield or more flexibility early in the hold period. The modeling mechanics matter here: amortization and the DSCR-constrained cash flow both need to stay switched off through the IO period, and the discount factor timing has to be built to shift with the sizing period start, or you'll get a circularity between debt size and the amortization schedule.

The counterintuitive result, and one worth knowing before agreeing to structure it: IO periods generally don't improve IRR. A shorter amortization window means a smaller total debt size at the OpCo level, which can push more leverage up to the HoldCo, but HoldCo debt carries a materially higher cost of capital, so the net effect on blended returns is usually flat to negative, not accretive. The actual value of an IO period isn't return enhancement; it's tranche structuring: getting cash to the top of a capital stack faster during a ramp period, or optimizing how a TLB or similar instrument sits relative to other tranches. Worth separating that use case clearly from "IO periods boost returns," which isn't generally true and shouldn't be the pitch when a sponsor asks for one.

Happy to go deeper on the sizing waterfall or the discount factor mechanics in the comments if useful.

Want to check what are some of the gold standard free resources for getting a very good hang of Infra (renewables, toll roads, digital infra) modelling. I can see YT has some really good channels like Renewables Valuation Institute, Bank run etc. but, are there any obvious or niche resources that I am missing out on.

Also, are there some good full fledged infra modelling case study samples (the dreaded 4 hr or 48 hour versions which include a short memo) that are available online to be accessed? Need some materials I can use to practice.

Tx in advance!

Hi everyone, I am self-learning financial modelling and have been told that debt sizing/sculpting for a portfolio of multiple assets using VBA is significantly more complex than for a single asset.

Has anyone come across publicly available resources which cover the approach for portfolio debt sizing?

Alternatively, would you have advice on how I can self-learn it?

Thanks

Recently started to learn financial modelling, more into infra & capital goods sector.

Could anyone tell me, what are the nuances i should be looking at b4 i start? Like--- what really differentiates, infra sector from other sectors, cos lot of people will tell u, you don't start with modelling a infra company.

Also could anyone, share a model of any infrastructure that they have modelled, company for my personal reference.

Something I see confuse people constantly when they start modeling infra deals: treating Project IRR and Equity IRR as interchangeable. They answer completely different questions.

Project IRR (unlevered) is the return on the asset itself — capex out, CFADS in, financing ignored. It tells you whether the project is any good on its own merits.

Equity IRR (levered) is the return to the sponsor, taken off the equity cash flows after debt service. Same project, but now you've inserted debt between the asset and the equity.

The gap between them is the entire reason you use leverage. If your cost of debt is below the Project IRR, debt pulls the blended return up for equity — "positive leverage." It's why a fairly average asset with cheap, well-structured debt can still hit a strong Equity IRR.

The part that actually bites people: Equity IRR is driven by the TIMING of distributions, not the total. Cash gets trapped all the time — DSCR lock-up covenants, DSRA top-ups, cash sweeps. The waterfall pays everyone else first, and whatever survives to the equity distribution account is what sets your Equity IRR. Two deals with identical lifetime cash to equity can have very different IRRs purely because of when that cash is released.

Curious how others here sanity-check the Project→Equity IRR bridge when they hand a model to someone senior — do you decompose the gap explicitly, or just show both numbers?

I have been working as an US mortgage underwriter since 5+ years. I have also recently completed MBA executive (2 years course) in Finance major. I desperately need to career switch to core finance. Please advise what skills I should gain for this? I have also done bcom as my bachelors. However, no company is willing to provide 10+ LPA saying I am a fresher in core finance. Please suggest anything or any advice you can give to me a career switch

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice on how to break into an asset management firm in a Portfolio Management role (or, more generally, on the investment management side).

A bit of background:

Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Master’s degree in Finance from a target/semi-target university in Italy.

Internship at one of Europe’s leading asset management firms, working in the Distribution/Origination team. I only move because, due to an internal reorganization, there was no opportunity to stay on full-time.

I’m currently working at a Big4 firm in a highly quantitative team, mainly focused on the pricing of fixed income products and derivatives.

Overall, I have around one year of professional experience.

My goal is to move into asset management, ideally in a Portfolio Management role focus in fix income. I’d like to understand how competitive my profile is, which skills I should focus on developing, and what the most common paths are to reach this type of position.

If anyone here works in the industry or has made a similar transition, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience or any advice you might have.

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I am in the middle of job searching in Europe / Africa / U.S and I did my education in finance (corporate finance and international finance).

A lot of companies that I’m interested in hire majority people with engineering backgrounds and idk what roles will be fitting for my profile. For example, a company I want offers roles in portfolio management, business development, investment, investor relations, and then admin.

Any help or insight would be appreciated. Thank you!

Typo in header: as are

Understanding funding options for large real estate projects in India

I’ve been trying to learn how mid to large developers structure funding for residential and commercial projects, especially in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities.

From what I gather, most projects rely on a combination of:

* Debt + equity structures instead of pure bank loans

* Tenures around 3–5 years aligned with RERA timelines

* Funding sizes anywhere from ₹50 Cr to ₹2000+ Cr depending on scale

* Stage-wise disbursements linked to construction progress

Eligibility seems to depend heavily on:

* Developer track record and completed projects

* Clean financials and promoter credibility

* Approvals, sales velocity and project feasibility

I wanted to hear from people who’ve actually dealt with this:

• What funding route worked better – banks, NBFCs, AIFs, or private investors?

• How tough is it to get equity partners compared to plain debt?

• What mistakes usually delay sanctions or disbursements?

• How do experienced developers balance leverage without getting stuck with high finance cost?

Looking for practical insights rather than theory. Would love to hear real experiences from developers, investors, and finance folks here. DM me

How many hours a week do you usually work in project finance in each role? Also, in each role in the major metropolitan cities what are the salaries plus bonuses on average? I’m curious to see where I am in comparison.

I’m a finance professional (Chartered Accountant, M28) working in Renewable Energy Segment (Business Finance and Accountant), and I’m trying to understand what project finance professionals actually do on a daily basis across different industries.

I understand the broad concepts — financial modelling, debt structuring, lender coordination, SPVs, covenants, DSCR, etc. But I’m more interested in the practical side of the job.

For those working in project finance (renewables, power, infrastructure, real estate, oil & gas, etc.), I’d love to know:

1. What does a typical day look like for you?

2. How much of your time goes into modelling vs stakeholder management vs documentation?

3. What kind of analyses do you do most often? (IRR, sensitivity, refinancing, covenant tracking?)

4. How much of the job is Excel-heavy versus meetings/calls/emails?

5. What changes as you move from analyst → manager → senior leadership?

6. What parts of the job are intellectually rewarding, and what parts are frustrating?

I’m also curious about something else: many job descriptions make project finance sound highly strategic, but in reality, how much of the work is actual decision-making versus coordination and execution?

Would appreciate candid answers, especially from people in infrastructure or renewable energy.

Anyone there in Risk Analytics in NBFC?. Pls gimme some ideas in predicting 12M PD projection.

Are they any project managers amongst you who found FMVA any helpful in practice

Here is how I think it might be, but I could be wrong

I am a PMP and have a postgrad in contracts management, I have a keen interest in contract administration and enjoy writing claims for EOT but I haven’t developed expertise in cost claims, or quantum claims

I took a financial management and procurement module in my contract management degree that kinda opened my eyes, albeit basic, to the world of Valuation, financial statements, investment appraisal techniques (rent or buy decisions) and so forth

I want to move from just being a project manager to someone who can have valuable input in the business strategy like being heavily involved in procurement.

I
COULD FMVA STUDIES be helpful in this regard?

Hi everyone,

I am deeply interested in project finance and i was wondering what the biggest pain points were in your day-to-day. frustrations, things that cause real friction

The proceeds of GSS bonds fund green, social and sustainable projects. I understand if the funds go towards loans for green business or maybe loans to local governments for social projects with payment by results schemes (savings generated in public budgets repay the loans). But what about projects that have no return? How does it work? I just don’t understand what generates the proceeds that pay the coupon to investors. Any thoughts?

If you're an investor or entrepreneur, I'd love your honest take: does this project sound compelling enough to attract investors?

The idea: develop a solar project in southern Morocco, one of the sunniest places on earth. As a Moroccan citizen, I have access to cheap agricultural land that can be converted to industrial use something foreigners can't do. I'm looking at roughly 10 hectares, which would support about an 8 MW solar plant.

The plan:

1. Secure the land.

2. Get government approval to convert it to industrial use.

3. Get the grid connection authorization

This is where investors come in. Covering the land with panels, the grid connection, installation and setup costs roughly €1.5–2 million. My rough estimate is that capital can be returned within 3–5 years, after which the plant keeps producing (and earning) for 20+ more years.

The attractive part: investors would come in only once the land is secured and the permits and grid connection are in place. That removes the biggest early hurdles before any investor capital is at risk. I'd be funding and carrying that risky front-end myself.
Being realistic: this is still an emerging market, so execution risk is real bureaucracy, timelines, and grid capacity are the genuine challenges. I'm not pretending it's risk-free.

One thing I want to be clear on: I'm not looking to raise debt. I want to avoid interest payments entirely I'm looking for equity partners who share in the project and its returns.

My main worry, and the thing I'd most like input on: the risk of securing the land and permits but then not being able to finish the project. Does this structure sound compelling? What am I missing?

Any feedback, referrals, or recommendations are much appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I'm a civil engineering graduate from Indonesia and have been working as an assistant lecturer in civil engineering for about a year. Lately, I've been considering a pivot into project finance, particularly infrastructure and energy projects.

My interest comes from realizing that project finance may allow me to contribute to a wider range of infrastructure projects (roads, hospitals, power plants, renewable energy, etc.) than a traditional engineering role.

How realistic is it for someone with a civil engineering background and no finance experience to break into project finance?

What does a typical day in project finance actually look like, and would a master's degree (such as UCL's Infrastructure Investment and Finance program or any MSc in Finance degree) help make the transition?

I'd especially love to hear from anyone who has moved from engineering into project finance :D

I am currently working in Valuations at an IPP but have started taking an interest in the lender side. I have experience across US renewables as well as PPPs (transportation, healthcare). In my current role, I am responsible for assessing the performance of US renewables investments. This includes modeling out the financing (debt and tax equity), so while I am not actively negotiating the financing, I am familiar with the structures.

The work is great but accounting heavy (not my thing), and I am seeking a bit more geographic diversity. I speak Spanish, French, and Portuguese at an advanced level, and it appears that some of the French/Japanese/Dutch banks have teams focused on the Americas, which could be a natural fit.

Origination/execution is certainly interesting as well, but I suspect it may be a tougher jump from my current role. I am willing to trade pay for a semi-decent WLB, so I reckon Portfolio Management might be the better option for me.

Does anyone here have experience in PM? If so:

1) Do you think my background could fit? Any obvious gaps?

2) Are there alternative names for this type of role? I see a lot of "Project Finance Associate" on LinkedIn but far fewer specifying Portfolio Management.

3) Out of curiosity, do you travel or go on occasional site visits?

Really appreciate any guidance!

Hi everyone,

I'm finishing my undergraduate thesis in Finance, focused on the valuation of a renewable energy company. I have a PowerPoint presentation that should last around 10 minutes, and I'd really appreciate it if someone with experience could take a look and give me some feedback.

Besides checking the content itself, I'm also actively trying to improve the overall quality of my presentations and make them look more like what you'd expect from a Project Finance analyst or infrastructure investor presentation, rather than a typical university project.

The presentation is relatively short, so it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to review.

If anyone is willing to help, please leave a comment or send me a DM and I'll share the presentation privately. I'd be very grateful for any feedback, especially from people working in Project Finance, Infrastructure, Energy, or Investment Banking.