A Questionable Advantage.
Practitioners often argue that project financing is beneficial when it keeps project debt off each sponsor's balance sheet. It is important to recognize that financial risk does not disappear simply because project-related debt is not recorded on the face of the balance sheet.
The accounting profession, in the United States at least, has tightened footnote disclosure requirements in recent years. In a reasonably efficient market--one in which investors and the rating agencies process all available financial information intelligently-the benefits of off balance-sheet treatment are likely to prove illusory. The investors and the rating agencies in such a market environment can translate the footnote information into an assessment of the sponsor's credit risk exposure related to the project financing. The rating agencies factor such assessments into their bond rating decisions, and investors can incorporate their assessments (and the debt rating) into the prices they are willing to pay for each sponsor's outstanding securities.