HSH Nordbank strengthens infrastructure advisory business

Hamburg/Kiel, November 26, 2009 - HSH Nordbank is strengthening its advisory business in the infrastructure segment through the establishment of a new advisory team.

The Global Infrastructure Advisory Group, which will be operating on a worldwide level from London, will offer advisory services outside the Bank's own infrastructure finance. The advisory team consists of a core group of more than ten sector experts based in London, New York and Singapore and will be led by Phillip Hall, who joined HSH Nordbank earlier this year. He will report to John Duffy, the Head of the Global Infrastructure Unit based in Singapore. The services will be offered preferably to investors, owners and developers for financing concepts of transport-related infrastructure, such as ports, airports, road, rail and logistics. The focus will be on advising on project finance and corporate takeovers (M&A financing) and on support in complex equity and fund structuring.

To this end, the team is leveraging HSH Nordbank's long-standing expertise as a specialist in transportation finance. HSH Nordbank has been a recognized partner in infrastructure projects for more than a decade. The Bank is now contributing this experience to its own advisory business. “Generally speaking, infrastructure projects have assumed greater importance among investors in the wake of the financial crisis, due to their predictable earnings and manageable risks. The formation of the Advisory Group takes account of this trend”, said Mathis Shinnick, Global Head of Transportation at HSH Nordbank.

The Global Infrastructure Advisory Group will officially start its operations on 1 December 2009 and has already put together a comprehensive list of clients. The Bank’s advisory team has recently received a broad mandate by Airis, the world’s premier private-sector developer of aviation facilities, to advise on various airport projects in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Furthermore, the team provided advice to the India Infrastructure Development Fund, which was launched by the Bank earlier this year in partnership with UTI Asset Management and the Noor Financial Investment Company.