Frequently Asked Questions

YES, subject to review of the individual financing application form submitted.

i. Projects already partially or fully under construction

ii. Land acquisitions and/or property purchases only – UNLESS project development is added

iii. Projects with zero equity iv. Proposed sale of property assets v. Private loans vi. Debt/Lien settlement

vii. Acquisitions of Shares/Bonds

viii. Buy outs/Buy ins and/or partner’s equity stake

ix. Angel Investment/Funds x. Cash Injections/Provisions

xi. Joint venture capitalization/Funds for partnership

xii. Refurbishment only of existing projects

xiii. Project renovations, if the renovation value is less than 80% of the total project value

xiv. Projects with less than 25 year land lease agreements xv. Mergers stakes

xvi. “Unethical” project proposals

xvii. Costs to meet the re-settlement of residents to another site location

We do not deal with:

a) Invitations to tenders or competitions of any type

b) Joint Venture invitations

c) Requests for proposals (RFP)

d) Financing participation in Public Private Partnerships (PPP)

e) Advertisements for employment

f) Project quotations/ construction cost estimates/ quantity surveys

g) Government owned or sponsored projects (we require the Developer to be a corporation)

Interest rates can only be determined close to the closing of a loan agreement, and not before.

NO. We can only advise on due diligence costs and other project finance costs, to be met by the applicant as part of their future assets, once a site visit has taken place.

It is almost impossible to advise what and how much loan collateral will be, until the project has been assessed by international standard feasibility studies. Usually, the collateral will be the assets of the project, i.e., land / machinery / etc.

We usually take possession of the land deeds for the duration of the loan period, as well as a first security charge over all other assets. We do not require personal finance guarantees from developers.

We usually buy out all existing loans, as all our lenders require to hold a “first security” position over all assets and outstanding loans.

a. The availability of acceptable feasibility studies, as outlined/discussed with us.

b. The physical condition of the site

c. Whether any people have to be evicted or re-settled from the site

d. Whether flooding of the site has been an issue in the past

e. Whether the chosen site has a history of seismic eruptions

f. The depth of the “political” connection of the Developer with local planning authority

g. The degree of difficulty of a specific project, i.e. more components means more considerations and research = more time

h. The period of time your country’s National or Central Bank requires to receive incoming foreign funds (various checks for illegal money sources, mafia originating funds; drugs or crime related funds; money-laundering, etc).

Besides this there are a few other considerations that we do not regard as particularly time-consuming. We therefore cannot venture to give a guideline for timing unless we have physically visited the site. The latter is one of the major reasons to determine the planning period timeframe for project financing.

NO. Projects are always risky financial undertakings and there are many risks a developer cannot cover, like force majeure, coups d’état, Tsunami, and the like.

The probability of your project getting funded depends upon the thoroughness and detail of all feasibility studies. The format has to conform to international professional associations as well as World Bank standards.

However, since 1983, the commencement of our global commercial existence, the only projects we have seen fail are due to either force majeure, unexpected seismic events, misrepresentation, non-disclosure of fraudulent activities by investors, deception or similar.

YES, after the first site visit has taken place and your project has been accepted.

a. We do not issue any LOIs in advance for Government or other security purposes or for any other reason.

b. We are unable to issue LOIs or LOCs covering projects which we have not inspected and for which we have received only written information, which needs to be verified by a site visit. This is one of the main purposes of the proposed site visit.

c. Loan guarantees/ bank guarantees/ letter of comfort/ promissory notes and similar legally accepted documents are only issued through a loan committee/ loan syndicate/ investors.

NO, not at any stage.

NO, but it helps the project.

We are unable to provide specific information on terms and conditions as we:

a. Have no verifiable information about your project at hand

b. Have not met you or any of your investors/ managers

c. Have not visited and verified the project site

d. Have not perused and advised you about the information you need to provide to us

e. were unable to enquire about commercial references covering your project

The developer has to cover all costs to “bring the project to the financing table”, this means acquisition of the land, land related tests, surveys, government permits of all types, all feasibility study costs, document translation costs, etc.

All those are determined and advised upon at the site visit.

Every project needs a developer (corporation).

We are only concerned with project finance issues.

YES

In some cases the client does permit this, but it is rare, as clients do not want to discuss their financial information with outsiders.

Written references are available once a site visit has been agreed, as part of our corporate information pack which is sent to the client.

Previous clients are always bound with us in written non-disclosure documents, lasting for a number of years, and we have to honor this.

Our Schedule of International Experience indicates this, where applicable.

YES we do, on a project by project basis, subject to a site visit having been concluded.

a) The commission is paid from the Soltrite Logistics’ success fee.

b) Any commissions are paid once a loan has been placed.

WE DO subject to individual Commission Agreements entered into with our Group.

NO, not under any circumstances.

All questions will be answered and solved during the initial phone conversation.

We are unable to accommodate this due to the sheer volume of applications we handle at any given time, and there is no point in holding discussions with parties we have not yet met.

We are unable to discuss project application matters by telephone or by Skype, due to the lack of a written record.

NO, we cannot, as too many factors are involved, which need to be clarified at a site visit first and thereafter we can provide a broad indication only.

YES, but these can be viewed onsite; there is no point in viewing documents without having seen the site and meeting the developers beforehand.

NO

a. We cannot for legal and ethical reasons, and to avoid any Conflict of Interest.

b. We do not accept any commissions/ payments and/or gifts, other than our 5% success fee during the project finance process.

NO, We cannot, for the reasons explained above. This would interfere with our independent role in approving project documentation for financing.

NO, but it helps the project.

a. NO, not under any circumstances.

b. Under no circumstances, do we accept any inducements/commission from lenders, other than our 5% success fee.

c. We act independently from the project applicant and lenders, during this period.

The most common ones are: 80: 20, 70 : 30, 60 : 40, but sometimes 100 % project finance can be provided, depending upon the project type / industry / risk evaluation criteria.

NO, we form lending syndicates and in most cases, become financing partners, subject to the prior approval of lending syndicates.

This however, never takes place before a project is signed up to be financed.

Otherwise this would be unethical and infringe our independent evaluator status.

Only the client maintains the right to accept or reject any of our proposed loan/ lending parties or deals.

a. We approve all project documentation and then select lender syndicate participants/ members and form the lending syndicate

b. The syndicates are made up of various institutions, private and Government investors. The syndicates can only be formed after completion of all feasibility studies and architectural requirements, i.e. after the initial site visit

c. Thereafter, we propose numerous loan options to the clients/ applicants

d. In many cases, we are appointed by the lending syndicate to oversee the loan development phases.

e. We have to issue irrevocable financial guarantees to lending syndicates, to ensure that all documentation to be approved by us meets World Bank and IMF standards.

The Soltrite Logistics specializes in forming lending syndicates so as to reduce the financial lending risks to individual parties.

After the Soltrite logistics’ approval of all feasibilities studies to the lending syndicate, Soltrite companies may become members of and join a syndicate, provided that they are not appointed as “loan supervisors” on behalf of the lending syndicate.

a. Upon submission of loan proposals to the client, loan proposers, brokers and financial intermediaries need to be advised that the Soltrite will require direct contact with those involved in the project finance process after its first introduction.

b. This requirement is mandatory, in order to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and with US Federal Money Laundering regulations under US banking regulations. As well as the UK Bribery Act (2011).

YES, in addition to any commissions receivable from us, provided a client agrees to this beforehand – but ONLY commission fees, not other charges.

There are many other questions we could address, at this stage, but those are really the purpose of a site visit to be concluded.

If and when, (in exceptional circumstances), our view is that a project will not be able to be financed, we will state this clearly at the conclusion of the site visit.

Projects which do not appear to be profitable and are not able “to stand on their own feet” fall into this category.

As we only receive a success fee, we are not in the market to speculate upon opportunities.

We are obviously interested in pursuing projects which indicate commercial opportunities and those have to be measured by international feasibility standards.

As we are in the business to finance projects, by forming financing syndicates to reduce capital risks, you will appreciate that our procedures are fair, legally and ethical correct and we are not interested in applications which do not understand the need for timely and streamlined procedures.

All communications are issued and/or confirmed, in writing by us, to leave no doubts as regards what has been said or agreed upon, by the various parties involved.

These can only be determined after a project site visit has taken place, with all due diligence carried out and completed.

YES, provided they conform to World Bank and other internationally recognized standards.

We receive all types of “Developers’ executed feasibility studies” and support materials.

They come under different names, such as Business Plans, Development Overviews, Summaries of Projects, etc.

For project lending purposes, feasibility studies have to be provided at the developers’ costs, constituting part of their assets. Lenders want to see that developers incur costs and take risks as well.

They need to be convinced about their project ideas.

The problem in attempting to evaluate and approve those studies provided by developers to us for project financing, are in the main:

a) These feasibilities/studies are not carried out by an independent industry related or qualified entity,

b) They are often only opinion-based and/or developers were emotionally involved in the preparation, thus making documents biased

c) Often they are dated,

d) They are not in an English language format,

e) Financial documents are rarely provided on a “revenue inflow” cash flow model, but on a project model basis (opinions rather than research)

f) Any research carried out previously does not carry footnotes identifying the research sources used

g) Architectural designs are completed but not based on the Market and Feasibility research results (they are often just unrealistic pretty pictures/visuals) and are completed without any project research evidence

h) Feasibility formats are not based upon World Bank/ IMF/ other Associations’ criteria, set out for global project financing purposes.

As a result, and this is one of the purposes of our proposed site visits, we can ascertain and then advise on the feasibility package to be provided by developers, on a case by case basis. We will always attempt to use as much of a developers’ past information as available, to reduce costs.

In the end, The Soltrite Logistics has TO APPROVE ALL FEASIBILITIES and render financial guarantees to investors, so as to confirm accuracy.

We usually take possession of the land deeds for the duration of the loan period, as well as a first security charge over all other assets. We do not require personal finance guarantees from developers.