프로젝트 파이낸스방식 수출거래에서 수출보험의 역할

Project finance is a financing scheme in which a lender is satisfied to look initially to the cash flows as the source of funds from which a loan will be repaid. The key to a successful project finance is structuring the financing of a project with as little recourse as possible to the sponsor while at the same time providing sufficient credit support through undertaking of a sponsor and other security mechanisms. To avoid direct liability, project sponsor establish a project company for the sole purpose of carrying out that project. A project company borrowes fund required for that project, and is liable for the debt. Project finance has several features compared to corporate finance. The major risks in project finance are completion risk, operation & management risk, raw material supply risk, sales risk, legal risk, country risk, etc. As a project company is a newly established without creditworthiness, the lender requires numerous securities. The most prefered security is export insurance cover by an export credit agency. Global project finance volume in 2007 increased by 20% to U$273 billion from 656 projects compared to U$227 billion from 589 transactions in 2006. Project finance marked the fifth consecutive year all-time high in both volume and deal count. The export insurances which can be used to cover risks involved in project finance are medium and long term export insurance(buyer credit), export bond insurance, and overseas investment insurance. Medium and long term export insurance(buyer credit) covers non-recovery risk of financial proceeds by a financial institution in a medium and long term loan agreement, the repayment of which exceeds two years. Export bond insurance is an export support scheme to indemnify losses of the financial institution which issued performance type guarantee. Overseas investment insurance covers investor’s(project sponsor in project finance) losses which incurred by war, expropriation, restriction on the transfer of money in a host country.