This page describes some ideas of how I suggest you prepare for nightmare project finance interview exams. I get very irritated when people ask me about some relatively complex modelling techniques that could involve re-financing, complex debt sizing, holding company analysis, monthly to annual cash flows, merchant cash flows, tax equity analysis and other issues. But then when they share the screen and show me their expertise in making a model they do not compute sums; they did not put in the units; they do not put inputs in a structured manner in an InputC page; they make the time lines with horrible disgusting long formulas; they do not structure the model with operations on the top and financing after project IRR is computed; they think their method of model presentation that wastes time is good because it conforms to some PE firm; they compute the financial statements way too early before computing project and equity cash flows; they do not use the NPV formula in computing debt size and ….
The argument on this page is that if you are preparing for an interview, the first step is to be able to quickly and efficiently complete a model with annual data and without any circular references without any scenarios without any adjustments for periodic payments and other complexities. I suggest that you should practice the first case many times until you become very comfortable with the structure, timelines and the model equations. Once you complete the basic case you can move to a more complex case that includes INDEX, LOOKUP and SUMIF to incorporate scenarios; to incorporate monthly variation and to model semi-annual repayments in the context of monthly flows. In the first section of this page I present a simple model that you should practice and should complete very quickly. If you can compute the basic model quickly then you can spend more time on the complex items.
This page also moves to some more complex after emphasizing the basic modelling. Some people would like guide through project finance. At the bottom of the page I have included a file with links to a whole bunch of videos (not youtube videos) where I have recorded class sessions that work through many project finance modelling issues. There is a video associated with each page that shows you how to work through basic and then complex issues with a model.
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Step 1: Basic Model
The file for the first part is attached to the button below.
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Step 2: Monthly Model with INDEX, LOOKUP and SUMIF
The second file and video describe more complex issues with modelling. If you can become comfortable with this model you are on the way to being able to complete more complex modelling issues.
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Excel File with Monthly Inputs that is Used for Modelling with INDEX, LOOKUP and SUMIF Functions
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Surinam Wind Model with Basic Debt, Scenario Analysis, Monthly Construction and Valuation
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Excel File with Surinam Wind Case with Scenario Analysis, Monthly Construction and Valuation
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Case File with Surinam Wind Case with Scenario Analysis, Monthly Construction and Valuation
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Hotel Model with Sculpted Debt, Re-finaning Analysis, and Monthly Construction
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Excel File with Hospital Case that includes Monthly Construction and Multiple Re-financings
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Comprehensive Course on Project Finance Model from Free Saturday Sessions
The file below has a guide through project finance modelling beginning with a basic model and moving to more advanced issues that include detailed time lines, circular references, sculpting issues and a number of excel techniques. There are a number of pages and for each page you can click on a link that takes you to an MP4 video made from our teams sessions. An example of the links is shown in the screenshot below. There is a video associated with each page that shows you how to work through basic and then complex issues with a model.
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