NAIF welcomes Investment Mandate Changes
The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) welcomed in April the Investment Mandate changes announced by Minister for Northern Australia, Matthew Canavan.
The changes will give NAIF a broader reach and provide additional flexibility to help NAIF deliver more infrastructure for Northern Australia than previously.
The key changes that will allow more projects to qualify for NAIF finance, include:
- broadening the types of infrastructure so NAIF can consider facilities which are essential to the
establishment of a business activity in a region. This includes for example food or other
agricultural or resource processing plants and supply chain operating assets.
- allowing NAIF to lend up to 100% of the debt, for appropriate projects, which removes the 50
per cent cap on NAIF debt financing.
- giving NAIF more flexibility around the gap test, relying on the Independent Board to determine
whether a project could proceed without NAIF assistance. NAIF will still seek to encourage
private sector finance through NAIF’s participation in a project.