Nayef Al Yaseen

KUWAIT: RSM Albazie & Co, a member of the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms 'RSM International', recently organized an intensive 'Project Finance Modelling' training course with a specific emphasis on Public-Private Partnership Program (PPP) structures. The training which was held in collaboration with Corality Financial Group; a global leader in financial training, witnessed high participation which included key personnel from RSM Albazie & Co, National Bank of Kuwait, Boubyan Bank, Commercial Bank of Kuwait and Wedian Real Estate.

PPP projects enable the private sector to undertake a portion of the development and operational risks, and has thus been effectively executed in developed markets such as the US, UK and Australia. The PPP model has also risen in popularity in emerging markets such as India, China and Singapore. With the recent decline in crude oil prices, governments in the GCC including Kuwait have begun to look beyond their oil revenues and sovereign reserves and one of the alternative measures undertaken is financing their large-scale and social infrastructure development plans through PPP projects.

The intensive three-day course focused on enabling participants to learn about complex PPP modeling principles and structured approaches with a focus on debt sizing, covenant monitoring and the overall global best practices in PPP modeling. The course was led by Neil Booth, Director at Corality's New York City office who previously held executive positions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS. Booth underlined the growing prominence of mega projects executed under the PPP legislative framework across the MENA region, while demonstrating practical insights of best practices in financial modeling as well as advanced project finance modeling concepts.

Commenting on this occasion, Nayef Al-Yaseen, Partner at RSM Albazie & Co said: "We continually seek out effective training sessions for our employees and other stakeholders in the industry to further equip them with the best financial practices on a global level. Our consulting team has previously led PPP projects and we are pleased to have hosted a more in-depth training program that has helped an array of participants gain crucial knowledge on the advanced aspects of Project Finance both locally and globally.

RSM Albazie & Co has been constantly dedicated to provide our professionals with the latest updates and recent trends, and we believe that Neil Booth's experience in financial modeling in PPP projects has served as an ideal platform with regards to the topics discussed during the training. The outcome of the program was very successful, which drives us to look forward to hosting similar training sessions in the future." RSM Albazie & Co has worked with clients from various industries which include Construction and Real Estate, Hospitality, Aviation, Oil and Gas, Banking and Financial Services and Healthcare amongst others. Established in 1963, RSM Albazie & Co is considered to be among the oldest accounting and advisory firms in Kuwait, with more than 50 years of experience.