An investigation into the qualitative characteristics of large infrastructure and project finance ventures in Southern Africa
Date
2016
Authors
Makovah, David Takaendisa
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Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa faces severe infrastructure deficits including in power
generation, water facilities, transportation, and telecommunications. These
deficits compound the socio-economic challenges of the most
impoverished region in the world. It is estimated that funding of US$ 90
billion per annum is required to address infrastructure deficiencies. Other
developing regions including Asia, the Middle East, and South America,
have with varying degrees of success utilised the project finance
framework to address similar infrastructure deficiencies, and also develop
other commercial ventures. Africa has lagged behind in this respect, and
still accounts for less than 3% of international project finance flows. The
ability to attract and access international and domestic project finance
capital, and execute the underlying ventures is an important opportunity to
address the challenges noted above.
The study contributes to knowledge by deepening our understanding of
project finance in South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe in the
following ways. Firstly, it offers a model through which to monitor key
contextual factors that influence the success, failure, and shaping of
project and infrastructure ventures. Secondly, it interrogates the main
capital structure theories including the static trade off and pecking order
theories, and their applicability and relevance for project and infrastructure
finance in the selected jurisdictions. It then compares capital structure
theory with actual practice of capital structure formulation in the 7 cases
studies investigated. This yields important insights as to the most
important factors influencing capital structure in project finance in the three
selected countries. In particular the constrained supply of capital is
observed as the top factor determining capital structure. It further
enhances our understanding of why ventures using project finance in
these countries may have significantly lower leverage than other similar
ventures in developed regions of the world. Thirdly, the study extracts key
insights into how stakeholder interactions evolve in the projects by
applying stakeholder agency theory to project sponsors, managers,
contractors, state institutions, and community organisations. Collectively
these insights should contribute to attracting increased capital to project
finance in Sub-Saharan Africa, and arranging projects with greater
prospects of operational success.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management,
University of the Witwatersrand in fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Wits Business School
4 November 2016
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Citation
Makovah, David Takaendisa (2016) An investigation into the qualitative characteristics of large infrastructure and project finance ventures in Southern Africa, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23477>