Guest Lecture By Mr. M.Venkatraman, General Manager, Erickson India

The first part of the guest lecture by Mr. M. Venkatraman, on the 24th of August 2002, opened with the basics of finance. He talked about the various kinds of instruments viz Equity, Preferred Stock, Debt instruments, etc. He also talked about the kinds of finance available - bank finance, corporate finance, term finance, project finance, et al.

The major focus of his talk was 'Term - sheets' as are used in project finance. The discussion was centered on the term sheet as provided for a project for implementation of GSM based Cellular Mobile Telecommunication System (CMTS).

The following were the main highlights of the discussion:

• Before selecting any lender for the project a wide array of potential lenders should be identified.
• The terms and conditions as provided for in the term sheets of the lender should be compared on various basis such as interest rates, clauses such as directorship, equity conversion rights, front end commissions payable, default penalties imposed, sponsors guarantees required, borrowers covenants required, etc.
  
• The various aspects and details of the term sheet should be considered while deciding on the lender, such as the ratio of guarantee by the sponsors, if more than one, specific use of the proceeds as directed by the lender, further lending facility available, etc.

The session was followed by interaction between the guest and the student community.