Recently, there is growing interest at home and abroad in business of urban renewal("the Business) to improve deteriorating environment of existing urban areas as well as to restore functions of the city. In Korea, the rapid economic growth has witnes...
Recently, there is growing interest at home and abroad in business of urban renewal("the Business) to improve deteriorating environment of existing urban areas as well as to restore functions of the city. In Korea, the rapid economic growth has witnessed urbanization focusing on external expansion of existing cities to meet the demand of urban development. Newly developed satellite cities located on the outskirts of metropolitan areas have become a comfortable dwelling place as an exemplary planning city with sufficient infrastructure. However, relatively old existing urban areas are still vulnerable to such disasters as flood and fire. Furthermore, poor road and living conditions of these existing cities are serving as a stumbling block to balanced regional development, necessitating the Business of urban areas.
Nonetheless, the Business poses quite a few problems, making smooth implementation of the Business difficult. Those factors including many irregularities responsible for the Business delay are closely related to financing method in the initial phase of the Business. Before the act on maintenance and improvement of urban areas ("the Act"), the Business started with the signing of a provisional contract with a specific constructor who then provided working capital needed for the Business. The Act, ho! wever, prohibits any financial support from a contractor until the union is approved with 80% of consent from the members.
The Act requires that working capital for the initial phase of the Business should be financed from the members. The Act also allows loans from management companies specialized in the business ("the Manager) or from financial institutions whenever necessary. In addition, municipal authorities can provide ‘City Maintenance and Improvement Fund’ ("the Fund") for the Business according to the Act.
However, most of the members are ordinary citizens and many small-sized Managers cannot afford to finance the Business as the minimum requirement of paid-in capital for the Manager is only 500 million won. Financial institutions are also hesitant to extend a loan to the union which has no legal status. There has been no case across the nation where the Fund is provided to the initial stage of the Business.
As mentioned above, the need for the Business is widely recognized but the financing method, a key factor for the Business, leaves a lot to be desired. Legal actions against illegal financing for the initial phase of the Business are becoming tougher, while few suggestions are made as to legal financing.
Other countries have already utilized project financing as a financing method for the Business, but few attempts have been made at home to introduce and research project financing.
Several assumptions have been made for this study. 1) The need of project financing is widely recognized as a transparent and legal financing method. 2) It is necessary to compare differences among concerned parties for the Business including financial institutions to ascertain root causes why project financing is rarely utilized. 3) The comparative analysis and study can help identify major factors barring aggressive introduction of project financing. With these assumptions, different perspectives among financial institutions, the Managers, and the union, the parties involved in financing under current laws and regulations, have been analyzed based on the mutual-oriented model.
The survey conducted as to reliability and need for the introduction of project financing has revealed that financial institutions, at the stage of pre-approval of the union, think project financing less reliable and pressing than the Managers and the union. Among parties concerned, it seems that these different views are accurately shared. On the other hand, after the approval of the union, financial institutions regard project financing as more reliable and appreciate its necessity. Also, the parties appear to accurately evaluate these objective perspectives one another with little difference in terms of reliability and necessity of project financing.
The analytical results of factors deterring wide use of project financing show that there isdivergence between the Business-related parties for illegal financing, unwillingness of financial institutions to give a loan, lack of concern of the government, and ill-management of the Fund, while all the parties share the same view over the legal status of the Business parties, legal restrictions on loans of financial institutions, and uncertainties of the Business.
The summary of the analysis of divergence among the parties reveals the following points.
First, the phase where there is no divergenceamong the parties as to the reliability and necessity of project financing for the Business is from the approval of the union through the dissolution of the union. For the phases of pre-approval of the union, and of between the approval of the union and pre-approval of establishment of the union, financial institutions think less of reliability and necessity of project financing. The results suggest that the Business-related legal and systematic improvements are more urgent tasks rather than the problem of divergence of opinion among concerned parties.
Secondly, the union recognizes legal status of the Business party, unwillingness of financial institutions to give a loan, lack of concern of the government, and ill-management of the Fund as key factors preventing aggressive utilization of project financing. Financial institutions point out illegal financing and the Business uncertainty as the key factors while the Managers view legal status of the Business party, lack of concern of the government, and ill-management of the Fund as major hurdles.
Thirdly, all the parties surveyed generally agree on reliability and necessity of project financing. This means that financial institutions are interested in project financing for the Business, but taking wait-and-see attitude until relevant systems including a legal aspect are in place to fend off risks involved.
Based on results of the analysis in terms of different perspectives among participants of the Business, a separate empirical analysis has been conducted for further study on timing and decision-making factors of project financing. In particular, there are confirmed overseas cases where financial institutions make substantial financing contributions to the Business. Accordingly, it is necessary to ascertain in detail timing and decision-making factors of project financing for financial institutions.
Factor analysis and logit model have been employed to identify decision-making factors on project financing of financial institutions for the Business. First of all, key factors to be considered have been identified through factor analysis in case that a financial institution makes a decision to participate in project financing. Then, a model analysis has been conducted with factor scores by identified factor being independent variables and responses to the survey on timing of project financing being dependent variables. The purpose of the model analysis is to find out which factor affects timing of project financing of financial institutions for the Business. For dependent variables, ordered logit model has been utilized as responses are arranged in ordered scale.
In a survey to identify level of interest in project financing for the Business, many of the respondents showed interest in project financing.The result indicates a high level of willingness to participate in project financing for the future Business. However, 42.8% of respondents reserved an answer, which could be translated in two ways. The first translation is that the respondents have difficulty making a decision as project financing and the Business are at their initial stage with weak relevant systems. The other is that financial institutions have not grasped the full picture of project financing to make a decision.
Followings are findings from the analysis on decision-making factors of financial institutions as to timing of project financing for the Business.
First, financial institutions have a low level of trust in the union initiating the Business. It is expected that financial institutions will participate in project financing on the condition that the union secures its legal status and public institutions including municipal authorities provide credit guarantee.
Secondly, financial institutions want shortening of participationperiod of a contractor and transparent operations of the union. This means that financial institutions have separate approaches toward the shortening of selection process of a contractor and fair competition structure. Financial institutions could participate in project financing earlier than expected if a contractor is selected after the approval of the union and the selection is made through a strengthened competition structure.
Thirdly, it has been inferred that financial institutions are seeking a business structure through partnership with the top-notch Managers. If the Manager can be equipped with capital base and expertise that contractors currently have, financial institutions, through agreement with the Manager, could easily review feasibility of project financing at the initial stage of the Business. Consequently, it is of utmost importance to foster the solid Managers to enhance their business capability. One of the alternatives might be to increase the paid-in capital requirement for the Manager. Considering the introduction of ‘incentive system’ to encourage competition among the Managers in the field of expertise could be another alternative.
In conclusion, in order to facilitate the introduction of project financing for the Business, all the interest parties including residents, financial institutions and the Managers should behave in a transparent and foreseeable way.