Power & Utilities - Projects - Assistant Manager

The Team

Infrastructure Advisory Group (IAG), a part of KPMG Advisory in the UK, consists of over 400 professionals and is widely recognised as a leading independent business, financial and regulatory adviser in the infrastructure space.

We provide in-depth advice on strategic, financial, regulatory and commercial issues driving investments in infrastructure across Transport, Power & Utilities, and Social Infrastructure in the UK and globally. Our work includes market and policy design, economic and regulatory analysis, deal structuring and execution, new markets and new delivery models development, and strategic and transaction advice to enable private and public capital to fund infrastructure. We work closely with other functions within KPMG to advise clients on mergers and acquisitions, valuations, tax, accounting and due diligence.
 
Power & Utilities (P&U) is the largest business area of the IAG and encompasses work for major clients in the sector, including all UK utilities as well as some of the largest energy and water companies in Europe and beyond. We provide in-depth strategic and technical advice on strategy and business planning and analysis, regulatory finance, project finance, corporate financial management, regulatory policy and other areas to help our clients create value for both shareholders and customers.

 Our work combines elements of policy, finance, economic and strategy to assist our clients in structuring investments, securing financing and supporting regulatory regimes to benefit customers and maximise shareholder value. We are widely recognised by many industry stakeholders as market leaders influencing the future of the utilities sector.

 Our P&U business is currently divided into Finance, Projects, Strategy, Regulation, Transactions, and Benchmarking, and is continuously expanding with double digit growth over the last 10 years. As such we are looking for high quality candidates to support our growth and development of existing and new service lines, while building on the work already undertaken in the Group.
 

The Role 
We are looking for a Assistant Manager with a Project Finance background to support the fast-growing Power & Utilities Projects team. 

The team specialises in advising clients on the delivery of large water and energy infrastructure projects including new nuclear plants, onshore and offshore electricity networks, interconnectors, reservoirs and other major assets. The Projects business is focussed on designing new markets and advising on in-house and competitive delivery models for major infrastructure projects and programmes.  We advise on all aspects of an asset’s delivery, including commercial arrangements, financing structures, regulatory strategy and engagement, and procurement processes – both for individual assets and new delivery programmes.

 Our clients, include companies, developers, bidders and regulators. Some of our projects include Hydrogen Transport Business Model, Hinkley Point C, potential investor in Sizewell C, Thames Tideway Tunnel (TTT), multiple Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) and Special Infrastructure Projects Regime (SIPR) projects, Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTO), Cap and Floor Interconnectors, Competitively Appointed Transmission Owners (CATOs), new nuclear projects (NNPs) and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Our clients are typically based in the UK and across Europe.

Services provided by the P&U Projects team:

• All aspects of commercial and financial advice on major infrastructure projects;
• Raising of finance (development capital, equity and debt); 
• Financial structuring, financial modelling and scenarios analysis; 
• Design of bespoke delivery models—this includes funding models (such as RAB, PPA, CfD), financing strategy and structures, Government or third party support packages, and State aid / UK subsidy control approval strategy and applications;
• Strategic and policy advice to major developers, bidders and other stakeholders, including government bodies and regulators on delivering utilities infrastructure and in particular large projects;
• Procurement and commercial advice including construction contract approach, commercial terms of contracts, incentive regime, packaging;
• Advising on bidding strategy, bid response preparation including commercial and financial bid responses, finance competition, coordination with lenders, and supporting on contract negotiations;
• Market analysis and benchmarking of sector and key players including supply chain and technology;
• Business case preparation for various stakeholder approvals and grant applications; and

Other advisory services such as sector analysis, etc

What will you be doing?

• Supporting delivery of specific engagements on a day-to-day basis;
• Support delivery of internal project teams and external advisors;
• Producing, high quality client outputs and presentations;
• Maintaining a good technical understanding of the key sectors in P&U
• Support business development activities through building enduring client relationships and produce high-quality business development materials

 What will you need to do it?

We are looking for someone who can work at pace and during intense periods of engagements, bring experience and best practice and collaborate closely with other parts of the team. The person should have experience of advising on projects in utilities and other infrastructure sectors with skills in client relationship management and experience delivering high quality outputs.

The person must have demonstrable relevant professional experience.

 Skills we’d love to see:

• Understanding of key value drivers in infrastructure projects in one or more of policy, regulatory and market framework, financing, delivery, operations etc.
• Understanding of the regulatory arrangements in the UK water and energy networks sectors or nuclear sector.
• Understanding of typical financial structures in the sector, in particular project finance. Have strong report and business case writing, Excel and PowerPoint skills
• Experience in financial modelling and financial analysis. A good understanding of scenario modelling.
• A go-get attitude and a will to succeed.
• Being an independent thinker with the ability to identify and solve problems.

Please submit a cover letter with a written response (max 250 words) to the following question: Based on your experience, how have you applied the core principles of project finance in practice?