Leading public and regulated services provider, Amey, has been awarded the prestigious title of Sponsor / Developer of the Year at the 2015 Partnership Bulletin Awards.
Now in its 17th year, the international award recognises and rewards the best in Public Private Partnerships (PPP), an area where Amey saw great success in 2014. Amey was up against stiff competition from across the globe and, despite Amey’s PPP projects being UK based, winning such an international award highlights the recognition that Amey now receives as a global leader within the market. Judging for the awards was carried out by independent panels of industry experts, including advisors, banks and fellow contractors further emphasising the recognition that Amey currently receives in the marketplace.
Judges attributed a key factor of Amey’s successful nomination to the number of genuine industry firsts it achieved through its successful bidding and financial closes in 2014 along with its desire ‘to bring in a range of investors to support some extremely complex projects’.
Three main projects were identified within Amey’s winning submission, namely;
- The successful financial close of the M8/M73/M74 Motorways Improvement project in Scotland was the first project of its size to sign under the new NPD procurement model and included a number of industry firsts through the bond issuance used to finance the project.
- Amey’s financial close of the North Yorkshire Waste project, which will see the construction of a £320m facility and the ongoing treatment of the North Yorkshire County Council and City of York’s municipal waste and is widely recognised as one of the most impressive financial closes achieved in the European waste market in recent years.
- Amey’s financial restructure of its Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) project in Northern Ireland included the first time a monoline guarantor was removed from an operational project in the UK.
Despite the complexity of these projects, this was business as usual for Amey’s specialist Group Treasury Ventures team who led the financing on each of these projects. Whilst it is recognised that deal flow has stemmed considerably, Amey was able to make 2014 one of its best years in the PPP market through achieving a 100% hit rate on PPP projects. Amey currently hold 16 PPP projects through Group Treasury Ventures, which contribute 30% of Amey’s forward order book value.
Asif Ghafoor, Managing Director for Amey’s Group Treasury Ventures commented on the win; “This award means a great deal to us, having competed on an international level against some of the biggest names in our industry. We always strive to develop innovative new financing solutions to the benefit of projects and our clients and we’re delighted to be recognised with this award, especially given it was voted for by our peers and recognised leaders in the market. 2014 was one of our most successful years yet and our successes within the PPP sector are a testament to the exceptional work of our people to deliver ground-breaking projects across the UK.”