The government of United Kingdom launched yesterday a consultation to review its approach to public participation in equity of PF2 projects.

The Government launched its new approach to Public Private Partnerships in December 2012. As part of its reforms to the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), the government announced that it will look to act as a minority co-investor in future PF2 projects.

The objectives of the Public equity co-investment are:

1. greater alignment of interests between the public and private sectors, and a more collaborative approach to improving project performance and managing risk;
2. better partnership working, with the public sector having greater visibility of project  information and more involvement in strategic decision making;
3. more transparency, including in relation to the financial performance of the project  company, through its project company board membership; and
4. value for money to be improved as, subject to the appropriate management of  project risk, the public sector will share in the ongoing investment returns, reducing  the overall cost of projects to the public sector.

To ensure an effective role is played by the public sector as an equity investor and to minimise the potential for conflicts of interest between the public sector acting as both investor and procurer, the equity investment will be managed on a commercial basis by a separate unit  within the Treasury, separate from the procuring authority. The investment will be made on the same terms as those agreed by the private sector for a particular project.

The government announced the privately financed element of the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP) would be the first to implement the reforms. Forty six schools in five batches will be rebuilt using PF2, with a total funding requirement of approximately £700 million. Procurement for the first batch of schools was launched by the Education Funding Authority in June 2013 and the remaining batches will follow over the next 12 months.

The publication of the draft Shareholders Agreement sets out the proposed terms of the government's investment. It includes details of the voting arrangements, the government's right to appoint a director to each company and increased information other shareholders will be required to disclose to provide greater transparency to the public.

Please, see link below to review the documents released by the Government.

Source: UK Government HM Treasury