The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office (IFFO) organised high-level Debt Financing and Investors' Roundtables on March 23 and 24. The events were attended by around 100 top management from the key players in infrastructure investment and financing. They included public and private sector investors, multilateral financial agencies and development banks, asset managers, banks, project developers and professional service firms.
      
     The Debt Financing Roundtable was held in the afternoon of March 23. Participants shared experience and opportunities in co-financing initiatives and programmes provided by the public and private sector institutions. They also discussed how infrastructure projects could be made more bankable through different risk mitigation measures.
      
     The Investors' Roundtable was held on the following day. It brought together a group of like-minded investors interested in infrastructure investments, including international sovereign wealth funds and pension investors from Australia, Canada, China, Korea, the Netherlands, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, with total assets under management exceeding US$ 4 trillion. The discussion focused on the outlook of the global infrastructure investment landscape, setting of common parameters for investing in emerging markets (such as investment structures, revenue characteristics, risk-return analyses as well as environment, social and governance factors), risk mitigations required to make projects more investable, and upcoming infrastructure investment opportunities.
      
     The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Norman Chan, said, "The two-day Debt Financing and Investors' Roundtables organised by the IFFO pools together major institutional investors, multilateral financial institutions, insurance companies, project developers and other stakeholders to conduct thorough discussions on issues such as risk management, governance framework, etc, which are of common interest in the context of infrastructure investment and financing in emerging economies."
      
     "While there is a huge demand for infrastructure investment along the Belt and Road countries, institutional investors are also actively seeking long term and stable returns for their large sums of capital. The IFFO Roundtables will enhance the mutual understanding among investors, financiers and project developers, which will facilitate future infrastructure investment and financing in the region."
      
     On the announcement made by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on March 23 that Hong Kong will become a new member of the AIIB upon deposit of the first installment of capital subscription, Mr Chan said, "I very much welcome the decision of the AIIB's Board of Governors. As Hong Kong becomes a member of the AIIB, we expect our capital markets and financial institutions to be better positioned to serve the AIIB in areas including project investment and finance, bond issuance, treasury management, and foreign exchange management. The IFFO will work with the AIIB to make use of the Hong Kong platform to further facilitate infrastructure investment and financing in the region."
      
     Going forward, the IFFO will continue to organise and participate in different international and local events to facilitate information exchange among key stakeholders, and enhance their knowledge on topics related to infrastructure investment and financing. 
     
About IFFO
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     As part of the HKMA, the IFFO's mission is to facilitate infrastructure investments and their financing by working with a cluster of key stakeholders. The functions of the IFFO are:

• providing a platform for information exchange and experience sharing;
• building capacity and knowledge on infrastructure investments and financing;
• promoting market and product development; and
• facilitating infrastructure investment and financing flows.

     For more information about the IFFO, please visit www.iffo.org.hk.

Ends/Friday, March 24, 2017
Issued at HKT 19:23

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