Project Finance Training

Francisco Anzola is a finance and project management professional with over 25 years of experience in the banking and the engineering and construction sectors. Francisco is a co-founder of CC Solutions and has global knowledge of ECA rules and eligibility requirements. As a Vice President at Commerzbank AG, New York branch, Francisco originated and executed Export-Import Bank of the United States-guaranteed and limited recourse financing transactions for customers in five continents and across many industrial sectors, including agriculture, oil and gas, manufacturing, and power generation.

Hala El Mohandes has over 20 years’ experience in highly complex international infrastructure projects on a limited recourse project financing basis. This covers business development, negotiations, financial analysis and documentation execution of projects in the oil and gas sector, power generation, petrochemicals and manufacturing. This is coupled with 16 years prior experience in commercial banking in the United States and Egypt. She headed the Project Finance Division of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) until May 2018. She specialized in leading project teams in the structuring, negotiations, financial analysis, processing and closing of complex infrastructure project finance transactions in the oil and gas, power, telecommunications, petrochemical and manufacturing sectors. She successfully closed 28 project finance transactions totaling over USD 16 billion in exposure and covering USD 90 billion in total project costs. As the manager and leader of a transaction team, her work included mobilizing and managing a team of internal and external financial, legal, technical and environmental advisors to conduct due diligence and financial and legal analysis of the complicated issues of a project to bring it to a successful financial close. I lead the extensive negotiations with the borrowers, project sponsors, and co-lenders. Work process includes presenting transactions to the Board of Directors of US EXIM for approval. At the agency she had responsibility for management, guidance and mentoring other senior and junior loan officers in the Structured & Project Finance Division. Work process also covers policy initiatives, advice and implementation of new financing structures, of several US Government and US EXIM mandates related to the promotion of its mission and increasing the global competitiveness of US exports. Following her retirement from US EXIM, Ms. El Mohandes served as Deputy CEO- Project and Export Finance for Carbon Holdings in Egypt and, as part of the CC Solutions team, led the development of a project finance manual, eligibility policy, and practices at Etihad Credit Insurance in the United Arab Emirates. Ms. El Mohandes is fluent in Arabic, English and French.