Booth, QC, Robert
(Bob) T.
Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3252
boothb@bennettjones.com
Mr. Booth's commercial
practice focuses on energy
and resources infrastructure,
serving clients in the oil
and gas, transportation and
energy utility businesses.
He advises on purchases
and sales, business creation
and joint ventures.
Borsook, Lisa A.
WeirFoulds LLP
(416) 947-5003
lborsook@weirfoulds.com
Ms. Borsook acts for
corporations and govern-
ments regarding their retail,
industrial and office property
needs. A leader in property
development and leasing,
she is widely regarded as
an expert in her field.
Bouvette, Sylvie
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
(514) 954-2507
sbouvette@blg.com
Ms. Bouvette has over 23
years' experience repre-
senting clients in connection
with the development, acqui-
sition, joint ventures, partner-
ship and financing of hydro,
biomass and wind farm
projects, and has been in-
volved in the energy industry.
Borduas, Robert G.
Norton Rose Fulbright
Canada LLP
(514) 847-4524
robert.borduas@nortonroseful-
bright.com
Mr. Borduas's project
and debt finance practice
embraces infrastructure
and PPPs. He represented
the lenders on the A30
Highway project, the McGill
University Health Centre
and the winning consortium
in the MSO Concert Hall
project among others.
Bourassa, Philippe
Blake, Cassels
& Graydon LLP
(514) 982-4061
philippe.bourassa@blakes.com
Mr. Bourassa's practice
includes an emphasis on
infrastructure and P3 projects.
He advises public and private
clients, on a broad range of do-
mestic and international trans-
actions. His work includes
advising on the MUHC
and CHUM P3 projects.
Bray, Catherine E.
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
(416) 367-6164
cbray@blg.com
Ms. Bray practises com-
mercial real estate law. She
has extensive experience
in buying and selling land;
major leases, including sale/
lease back transactions; joint
ventures and other legal
structures; and financing
including construction
financing.
8
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FINANCING INFRASTRUCTURE
LEXPERT
®
RANKED LAWYERS
US and, if that trend continues, possibly
other markets."
Greg Lewis, a partner at Bull, Housser
& Tupper LLP in Vancouver, says while
they're not seeing deals in Western Can-
ada being marketed in the US, they are
seeing a growing interest in marketing to
Asian investors.
"I know Japan and South Korea have an
interest and some companies from Asia are
interested in participating in North Ameri-
can P3s. ere have been events in Tokyo
with North American participants coming
over and talking about the P3 model, ex-
plaining it.
"e big Japanese and Korean conglom-
erates I think are quite interested in doing
business in North America and P3 is a fairly
attractive investment. While it's not risk-
free, it's probably a reasonable return for the
level of risk."
He says one interesting question is
whether the hammering that oil prices have
taken, and the effect on the larger economy,
will stall any of the big-ticket infrastructure
projects — especially in Western Canada.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see the P3
deal flow dropping off in Alberta and Sas-
katchewan, and slowing slightly in BC.
e drop in government revenue is making
governments pause and consider all of their
spending, at least in the short term."
CANADA'S TOP 100 infrastructure
projects in 2015 represent a healthy $157
billion in total investment, according to Re-
New Canada, an infrastructure magazine
that tracks projects by cost.
Bidders in each case have to have com-
mitted financing and keep it in place dur-
ing the selection process. ey are generally
required to set aside the funds for anywhere
from two to four months, and occasionally
even six, says Guy David, a partner in the
Ottawa office of Gowling Lafleur Hender-
son LLP.
"If you've got a $5-billion project and
three bidders, you need to find $15 billion
of financial capacity in the market to sup-
port that project. If you've got three proj-
ects that size then you're looking at $45 bil-
lion in funds being committed. If they're all
happening around the same time that may
pose a challenge."
Ehren Cory, divisional president of proj-
ect delivery at Infrastructure Ontario, says
Ottawa and the provinces have formed a
working group to tackle exactly these kinds
of issues.
Cory, who previously led the infrastruc-
ture and public-sector practices at McKin-
sey & Company, says there have been "good
discussions" recently about the implications
of so many projects hitting the market at
the same time.
"One of our big topics lately has been
about the staging of construction, it's
something industry has been talking about
a lot more. Right now we're comparing
notes – when is your project coming, and
hmm, those feel really close together. e
next step for us will be to start thinking
about more coordinated scheduling, mak-
ing sure there's a bit of space in the market
to make sure they don't all hit at once. So
there is that kind of conversation starting
to happen.
"ere's a realization on our side, as own-
ers, that we have to think about how this
pipeline of projects – this wave of transpor-
tation projects in particular – are coming
down the pipe."
THE LONG-TERM TREND in fi-
nancing costs for infrastructure projects
has been in a steady decline since the 2008
financial crisis, partly because the debt is
priced as a spread over Government of Can-
ada bonds, whose yields have been declin-
ing as well.
As lenders around the world become
more comfortable with large P3 infrastruc-
ture projects, which are only about 15 years
old, the traditional financing structure of
90 per cent debt and 10 per cent equity has
given way to more like 93 per cent debt and
7 per cent equity. Equity is the more ex-
