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Match the financing to the need: fund long-lived project equipment with capital expenditure financing—such as project debt, a development-finance or commercial loan, or an equipment lease—and fund construction liquidity with a separate working-capital facility sized to the project’s cash-flow gap. The right structure depends on the borrower, project revenues, country, procurement origin, collateral, and stage; the title alone is not enough to identify a lender or establish eligibility.
Separate equipment investment from working capital
Equipment can be part of a project company’s long-lived capital expenditure: for example, assets needed to build or operate the infrastructure. It may be financed within a larger project loan, or separately through a lease or borrowing secured by assets. The best fit depends on who owns or uses the equipment, its useful life, available security, and when project revenues begin.
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Working capital covers shorter-term timing gaps during construction or delivery. A contractor, sponsor, exporter, or project company may need cash for payroll, mobilization, materials, subcontractors, inventory or work in progress, and costs incurred before invoices are paid. Retention and bid or performance-bond requirements can add to that gap. Forecast the timing of those outflows and receipts rather than treating working capital as an arbitrary percentage of equipment cost.
Which financing route may fit?
Project finance for revenue-generating infrastructure
In limited-recourse project finance, repayment depends primarily on project cash flow rather than an unrestricted claim on the sponsor’s balance sheet. Lenders assess whether expected revenues can service debt and whether the contracts and risk allocation make those revenues credible. Construction, operations, supply, offtake, warranties, and performance obligations need to be assigned to parties capable of managing them. A project company may use this structure for long-lived capital expenditure, including equipment, if the project’s cash-flow and contractual case supports it.
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EXIM’s project-finance guidance describes this as a coordinated structure: contracts should fit together and place risks with the parties best able to manage them. Its underwriting guidance includes contracted sales, debt-service capacity, proven technology or mitigants, and performance guarantees. These are underwriting considerations, not a guarantee of eligibility or approval.
Development-finance and commercial loans
Development-finance institutions (DFIs) and commercial lenders may lend directly to a project or company, or lend to financial institutions that on-lend to businesses. IFC says its loans to projects and companies typically run seven to 12 years; it also lends to banks, leasing firms, and other financial institutions for on-lending. Its infrastructure practice combines direct finance with blended finance, risk mitigation, and advice.
EBRD says its larger private-sector loans are assessed against expected project cash flow and repayment ability and may be secured by project or company assets. It publishes a usual range of €3 million to €250 million for these loans, while noting that smaller amounts are possible and that exceptional longer maturities may be available for large infrastructure. These are institution- and product-specific published figures, not terms a particular project can assume. Amount, tenor, currency, and security are negotiated.
Equipment leasing or asset-backed borrowing
A lease can suit equipment with a defined useful life when a lessor can underwrite the asset and the payment stream. Alternatively, a borrower may seek a loan secured by movable equipment or other eligible assets. EBRD lists movable equipment as a possible form of security. IFC transaction disclosures also illustrate equipment financing through leasing companies and a corporate loan supporting construction and mining equipment purchases. These examples show possible structures; they do not establish that a lease or secured loan is available for a different borrower or asset.
Working-capital facilities and export-credit support
For a qualifying U.S. exporter, EXIM’s Working Capital Loan Guarantee works through the exporter’s commercial lender. EXIM says it can support materials, equipment, supplies, labor, and standby letters of credit used for bid bonds, performance bonds, or payment guarantees. Its current program page describes a 90% loan-backing guarantee and a minimum U.S.-content requirement of 10%; confirm current program rules and transaction eligibility before relying on either figure. EXIM states: “EXIM doesn’t replace an exporter’s bank; it works with lenders to provide a loan guarantee that backs the borrower’s debt in the event something goes awry.”
EXIM also describes medium- and long-term financing—including direct loans, guarantees, and structured project finance—for creditworthy international buyers purchasing U.S.-made capital goods and related services. This route depends on buyer and procurement eligibility; it is not a general-purpose source of infrastructure funding.
Compare structures against the project’s needs
| Financing route | Repayment and borrower | Potential fit | Key conditions to examine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project or structured finance | Usually borrowed by the project company; repayment relies primarily on project cash flow and revenues. | Long-lived capital expenditure for a project with a credible revenue and contract structure. | Debt-service capacity, construction and operating risks, contracts, completion support, security, currency, and recourse. |
| DFI or commercial loan | Borrower may be a project or company; repayment and recourse depend on the facility. | Project or corporate investment, with terms negotiated for the borrower and transaction. | Eligibility by country and sector, tenor, currency, security, covenants, fees, and conditions precedent. |
| Equipment lease or asset-backed borrowing | Payments are tied to the lease or loan; equipment or other eligible assets may support the financing. | Identifiable equipment with a useful life and an underwritable payment stream or collateral value. | Asset ownership, security rights, useful life, delivery and acceptance, maintenance, insurance, and payment timing. |
| Working-capital loan or export-credit-backed facility | Often borrowed by a contractor or exporter through a commercial lender; a guarantee may support eligible borrowing. | Short-term cash needs, including eligible export inputs and some bond-related support. | Borrower and lender eligibility, export activity, content or origin rules, use of proceeds, and facility availability. |
For each proposal, compare the borrower and recourse; use of proceeds and tenor; security; currency of costs, revenues, and debt; contract and completion risk; eligibility; and all-in economics and execution. Ask for the pricing, fees, covenants, grace period, amortization, diligence requirements, and time to close. Match scheduled repayments to asset life and the revenue ramp-up, and test whether the project can manage any currency mismatch. No universal ranking follows from the available product descriptions, and no broadly applicable market interest rate or infrastructure debt-to-equity ratio is established here.
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Published transactions show how different financing needs can be packaged, but their amounts and terms are specific to the named borrowers and deals.
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- IFC disclosed in 2024 a Mota-Engil transaction of up to US$214 million, described as a six-year senior unsecured loan, approved in June 2025 and signed in August 2025. It supported construction and mining equipment for African projects.
- EBRD disclosed in May 2026 financing of up to EUR 162 million for Mota-Engil Africa. Stated planned uses included railway construction equipment, other capital expenditure, refinancing, and working capital.
Neither transaction is a market benchmark or an offer to another borrower. A public example does not establish that a project in a different country, sector, or ownership structure would qualify for similar financing.
Prepare a lender-ready financing case
- Define the borrower and uses. Identify whether the borrower is the project company, sponsor, contractor, or exporter. Separate the equipment budget from the working-capital requirement and state what each facility would pay for.
- Build the financial case. Prepare an integrated sources-and-uses model, construction cash-flow forecast, operating case, downside case, and debt-service analysis. Show revenue timing, payment terms, and the expected cash-conversion cycle.
- Document revenues and counterparties. Provide offtake, concession, purchase, or other revenue contracts as applicable; identify payment timing, counterparty credit, and foreign-exchange exposure.
- Set out procurement and asset details. Provide equipment specifications and procurement schedules, including origin, required deposits, delivery milestones, warranties, maintenance, and performance protections.
- Map security and support. Identify available project or company assets, equipment, receivables, inventory, shares, accounts, insurance proceeds, and contract rights, along with any sponsor support or guarantees.
- Assemble diligence materials. Prepare information on sponsor and operator experience, technical evidence, permits, environmental and social matters, legal structure, insurance, and any government or multilateral support.
- Check program eligibility before relying on it. For an export-credit route, establish the exporter and buyer locations, qualifying goods or services, applicable content or origin rules, and lender participation.
- Request comparable term details. Ask each prospective lender to specify currency, tenor, grace period, amortization, fees, covenants, security, conditions precedent, and whether working capital is committed and revolving or transaction-specific.
This is a practical preparation list based on published lender guidance, not a universal document checklist; requirements vary by lender and transaction.
What the project details must resolve
Without the country, sector, ownership, borrower, project stage, equipment origin, expected revenues, collateral, and credit profile, it is not possible to identify a definitive financing route or lender. Those details determine whether project debt, corporate borrowing, leasing, or export-credit support is plausible. Published program terms and transaction examples should be verified with the relevant institution before they are used to structure a financing plan.
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