Job Vacancy: Transaction Manager

Position: Transaction Manager (TM)

Reports to: Global Coordinator and REEEP

About PFAN

The 2016 Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) calls on all countries to a) hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, b) increase the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change, and c) make finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-resilient development. Addressing global climate change successfully will require deployment of low-carbon, climate-resilient systems at a large scale. The role of clean energy is prominent in the context of the commitments made as part of the (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions.

The Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) is a global network of climate and clean energy financing experts, which offers free business coaching and investment facilitation to entrepreneurs developing climate and clean energy projects in emerging markets. Our goals are to build clean energy markets one business at a time, mitigate climate change and mobilise private investment in support of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals. Initiated by the UNFCCC and the Climate Technology Initiative (CTI) in 2006, PFAN is hosted jointly by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), and PFAN-supported projects have collectively raised more than USD 3 billion since inception of the Programme.

PFAN operates globally in Asia & the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean and Eastern Europe & Central Asia, via approximately 200 locally based advisors and is active in 60 countries, supported by local and regional partners. PFAN counts with a network of global, regional and local investors and climate finance partners and besides engaging with them on an individual basis we organize investor roundtables, and/or events where project developers can showcase their businesses to potential investors.

About the Role

PFAN is seeking to increase the quality and depth of investment facilitation support to the projects supported by PFAN by becoming more involved in transaction management/orchestration of the deal to increase the number and rate of financial closures. PFAN is looking to further develop these Investment Facilitation activities by appointing a Transaction Manager (TM) who will co-implement with the PFAN Management Unit (PMU) and REEEP Team an enhancement of the IF process. This enhancement project, internally entitled “IF 2.0”, is split into two phases: design and implementation. The scope of work related to this procurement pertains to the second phase.

The enhancement to PFAN’s investment facilitation will see the appointment of a TM who will appoint and oversee a cadre of specialised Transaction Advisors (TA). The TM, who will report to the Global Coordinator and REEEP and work closely with the Regional Coordinators (RC), will be responsible for converting investor-ready SMEs in PFAN’s pipeline to financial closure, as well as for building the capacity of all PFAN advisors in the Network related to IF. The TM assignment will be engaged on a continual basis dependent on performance and budget.

Main Tasks

The TM will report to the Global Coordinator and REEEP. The TM’s performance will be measured by the overall raising of transaction advisory quality by the Network; the smooth operationalization of the enhanced investment facilitation processes; and the number and rate of successful financial closures of PFAN SMEs supported in the investment facilitation phase as a consequence of the execution of the following:

The TM will be responsible for identifying, onboarding and managing the team of TAs. TAs will be allocated by the TM to investor-ready SMEs supported by PFAN to support them reach financial closure. That will include investor introductions, term sheet development, teaser and data room development and refinement, deal structuring and negotiation. A key component of the tasks will be to support the advisor secure success fee agreements with the SMEs, and support the success fee collection process on financial closure. The TM is expected to take a hands-on proactive approach in supervision and oversight of these transactions. The TM be aware of the SMEs in the PFAN pipeline that are coming close to investor-readiness so that he/she can ensure investment facilitation services are received when ready. The TM is expected to work closely with the Regional Coordinators in this regard.
The TM is expected to support facilitate the closing of deals via investor introductions, providing guidance to the TA on deal structuring, term sheet and data room development, financial model refinement, and financial closure strategy in general.
The TM will take the lead the implementation of PFAN’s investment facilitation enhancement project, which consists of:
- a) Launching an improved investment facilitation contract template for TAs, which will be trialled from Q2 2023. There is the possibility for the TM to partake in the trial.
- b) The establishment of a global TA cadre managed by the new TM role.
- c) Capacity building of all 200+ advisors in PFAN network on the subtopics under the umbrella topic of “investment facilitation”.
PFAN will procure a separate Capacity Building Expert for the point mentioned in 3c) but the TM is expected to also deliver a couple of webinar training sessions to the Network and coordinate with the Capacity Building Expert on the selection of delivered topics.
Once the trial referred to in 3a) is complete, the TM will work closely with the PFAN Management Unit and REEEP, and lead the review of the outcomes of the trial in preparation for a global rollout.

The geographic scope of the TM’s work will cover Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia . The candidate should be based on one of PFAN’s regions. The candidate is expected to have in-depth knowledge of the climate adaptation and clean energy landscape of at least two of these regions. Knowledge of SSA and APAC are most desirable.

The TM is expected to join a Regional Coordinators’ (RC) Workshop that is scheduled to take place in March 2023 in Vienna, Austria. Other travel is currently not foreseen. Travel expenses will be reimbursed according to the PFAN Travel Guidelines.

The successful candidate is expected to work on a 50% full-time equivalent basis and will be remunerated a fixed gross amount of 20,000 USD per quarter.

The TM will be paid on approval of quarterly reports by REEEP and the Global Coordinator.

Education:

MBA or MSc in Finance from a well-reputed university.

Technical and Functional Experience:

Ideally not less than 15 years of relevant experience in the field of finance and banking, specifically focusing on SMEs.
Successful track record in transacting and facilitating investments and collecting success fees in the renewable energy and climate adaptation sector in developing markets.
Proven ability to manage geographically diverse teams and build constructive working relationships.
Proven ability to drive processes and proactively problem solve and drive results.

Language(s):

Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
French, Russian and/or Spanish are beneficial.

Please note that REEEP awards contracts under the following conditions:

Written contract under Austrian law and jurisdiction
Currency and payment modalities as indicated above
Invoices are payable within 30 days

Please submit your CV and Cover Letter by 9:00 am CET, 13th February 2023 to the following email address: colin.brouillard@reeep.org.

In case of any questions, please contact:

Colin Brouillard
Senior Manager, PFAN
colin.brouillard@reeep.org
Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP)