Interim Chief Financial Officer — Infrastructure Debt Reset

Executive mandate and authority

Operate within delegated authority agreed at appointment. Material borrowing, security, disposals and equity decisions remain subject to the relevant approvals. Present bad news promptly, distinguish a negotiating position from an approved commitment, and ensure management can deliver undertakings before they are offered externally.

Reconstruct the financing facts

Start by reconciling unrestricted liquidity, debt balances, security commitments, covenant calculations and the operating assumptions that support projected repayments. Establish which figures are reliable, which require investigation and which risks demand immediate escalation. Build a shared view with operations rather than allowing the financial model to become detached from service delivery.

The CFO will control versioning of the forecast, define an approval route for assumptions and maintain a record of commitments made during discussions. They will connect weekly liquidity decisions with the longer-term financing strategy, ensuring that short-term measures do not undermine essential maintenance or contractual performance.

Take executable options to lenders

Develop financing options with transparent trade-offs between maturity, pricing, security, covenant flexibility and shareholder commitments. Prepare decision papers covering amendments, refinancing, asset-level remedies and reductions in discretionary expenditure where appropriate. Lead lender information requests and coordinate specialist advisers without surrendering ownership of the facts.

Experience to carry the negotiation

Candidates need hands-on senior finance leadership in infrastructure or similarly asset-intensive businesses, with direct involvement in lender negotiations and stressed or constrained financing situations. They should be fluent in integrated forecasting and debt documentation, while able to explain financial consequences to operational leaders. A recognised finance qualification or equivalent demonstrable expertise is expected.

Leave an operable financing function

Leave behind reconciled debt records, an owned reporting calendar, clear covenant responsibilities and a finance team able to maintain the agreed controls. Completion will be judged on implemented decisions, reliable lender reporting and a usable transition to permanent leadership, not merely on the volume of financing alternatives considered.