BTY Group Names New Director and Opens Phoenix Off

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - BTY Group named a new Director, Ryan Brady, to lead the cost and risk management firm's US efforts as part of its continuing expansion strategy in North America.

Brady is a specialist in Public Private Partnerships (P3) with 16 years of experience in the construction industry in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. He will be based out of the firm's new Phoenix, AZ office, and will lead BTY project teams across the United States. Last year, BTY opened an office in Los Angeles.

The new appointment and new offices are part of the firm's long-term strategy to become the go-to cost and risk advisor in the U.S. – just as it has in Canada over the past 36 years. The timing for continuing expansion couldn't be better, according to BTY's Managing Partner Joe Rekab.

"A new report from Moody's Investors Service identifying the strong potential for the U.S. to become the world's largest market for P3 projects confirms the soundness of our decision five years ago to start pursuing P3 opportunities in the U.S.," he said.

"At first we partnered with other Canadian firms participating in U.S. P3s, but now we are developing relationships directly with major U.S. construction firms and project proponents. To our knowledge, no other firm in either the U.S or Canada has fulfilled the role of Technical Advisor (TA) on more P3 projects over the past two years," Rekab added.

To date, BTY has acted as TA on 11 US infrastructure projects collectively valued at $16.5 billion. They have included the Ohio River Bridges East End Crossing, the Goethals Bridge for the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey, Phase 2 of US-36 Managed Lanes Project (Colorado), and the I-4 Ultimate Project in Florida. The latter two – both availability payment P3s – achieved financial close in the past year.

More states are authorizing the use of P3s for transportation projects, which are typically the first type of P3 project in a new market. Over the past 12 months, traction in the social infrastructure project space is beginning to take hold, with projects such as the Long Beach Civic Centre, the Indianapolis Justice Complex and the Houston Justice Facility. The use of the P3 model has been steadily increasing in the U.S. over the last five years, and more P3 availability payment projects are reaching financial close or are in procurement than ever before.

BTY, with headquarters in Vancouver and eight offices across Canada, developed its P3 expertise over the past decade on major projects in transportation and social infrastructure. As a pioneer in that country's P3 industry, the firm helped to develop the service standards for both the Lenders' Technical Advisory and Independent Certifier roles.

"We worked on Canada's first P3 project in 2004," says Rekab, "and have contributed to 108 more in various capacities since then."

Moody's Global P3 Landscape report identifies Canada as having the most mature market, where P3s have been predominantly availability-payment projects. In this type of P3, payment to the private developer is made as long as the asset is available and meets specific performance criteria. The payments cover operating and maintenance costs, as well as debt service on borrowings to pay for construction costs.

In another popular P3 project type, a toll, or demand-risk model, the private developer is paid back through user fees it has been granted to collect. This fee-for-service model places transfers performance risk to the private developer. The U.S. has a history of demand-risk P3s, but the market for availability-payment projects is expanding and BTY has extensive experience in both types.

The firm also recently named two new partners, Ian Wilkinson and Alistair Dearie, for its practices in British Columbia and Alberta, indicating BTY's continued strong growth in both established and new regional markets. Ian has fifteen years of experience working with major lenders and developers for residential and commercial real estate and leads the Lenders' Services practice for the firm's Vancouver office. Alistair also brings fifteen years of experience with both public and private sector clients and leads the firm's offices in Calgary and Saskatoon.

For more information contact:
Saira Muzaffar, Marketing and Communications Director
sairamuzaffar(at)bty(dot)com
1-416-596-9339

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BTY Group Saira Muzaffar +1 4165969339