Senior Research Analyst- Project Finance role

Location: Mumbai (preference) /Pune/Gurgaon/Chennai

KEY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

· The role comprises working on comprehensive credit reviews of infrastructure projects based in emerging markets. Areas of work involve

o Analyzing information such as financial statements, operations/progress reports, asset summary report and debt structure

o Preparing deep dive financial models with drivers-based revenue estimations and financial projections for a period of 5-7 years.

o Perform financial statement analysis, undertake research and analysis of the project/entity based on a thorough research from loan origination documents, prior annual assessments, secondary resources, etc.

o Prepare a detailed credit assessment report and elaborately discuss the project’s/company’s business model, funding mix, strengths and weakness and evaluating its operational and financial risk profile (Cash flow, debt servicing assessment, etc.). Provide industry overview (operating market environment) and likely company position within industry based on secondary research.

o Perform credit evaluation of borrower transaction history, underlying collateral, covenant monitoring, covenant projections and suggesting early warning signals (if applicable).

· Training and mentoring SRA/ RA on credit risk assessment of infrastructure projects.

· Regular interaction with client to discuss key assumption for projections, share insights, discuss queries, etc.

· Supporting the client with any ad-hoc research requests related to the portfolio

· Engaging with the client on a regular basis and suggest innovative ways to enhance client engagement.

FUNCTIONAL & BEHAVIOURAL KNOWLEDGE
• Bring domain expertise in project financing operations and act as Subject Matter Expert
• In-depth understanding of financial statement linkages, experience in working on complex financial models, strong fundamentals.

· Experience in credit analysis, credit research and detailed report writing.
• Reasonable understanding of lending process, bank guarantees and covenant monitoring.

PROBLEM SOLVING

· Identifies and resolves complex research issues

· Clarity of thought, is able to create outputs based on client’s guidance
• Strong logical flow, process-oriented and solution-oriented skills

CLIENT MANAGEMENT / STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

· Interacting with overseas client on regular basis to understand their expectations and share own insights (based on research and credit expertise).

· Communicates with senior management and interact with other related teams

TYPICAL SCOPE & IMPACT

• Impacts the quality and effectiveness of own team

MINIMUM & PREFERRED EDUCATION

· MBA or CA or Master’s (finance) degree preferred. CFA is a plus.

MINIMUM & PREFERRED EXPERIENCE / SKILLS

· 4-6 years of work experience preferable in project finance modelling (mainly for infrastructure projects)

· Hands-on experience in detailed financial modelling and in-depth credit analysis and credit research.

· Experience of preparing detailed credit assessment reports
• Reasonable understanding of lending process, bank guarantees and covenant monitoring.

· High level of attention to detail and accuracy

· Clarity of thought and an acumen to solve complex problems

· Excellent analytical abilities

· Effective time management, written and oral communication skills