Grant Thornton UK expands international public sector
experience with advisory role in key Quebec health project
Leading business and public sector adviser Grant Thornton
International continues to expand its project finance consultancy
with the firm's appointment as financial adviser to one of Canada's
most important public health initiatives in decades.
The 'CHUM' hospital campus in downtown Montreal and a new
research centre, known as CR-CHUM, have a combined capital value of
£535 million, and make up one of the two 'mega-hospitals' to be
built as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) within the
province.
The appointment was secured through partnership between Grant
Thornton UK LLP and Quebec's Grant Thornton member firm, Raymond
Chabot Grant Thornton, who offered an in-depth understanding of the
Quebec healthcare system, a long-standing relationship with CHUM
management and links with Provincial Government.
The experience acquired by Grant Thornton UK's project finance
specialists when previously advising on major hospitals and
research centres in both the UK and more recently Russia, was a key
driver in winning the contract, in which a multidisciplinary team
of accountants, economists, investment bankers, healthcare
consultants and real estate experts will develop contracts and
secure funding.
The CHUM project will include ambulatory and emergency care
units, a teaching hospital and a technical centre, while CR-CHUM
will offer the very latest in medical research facilities. Both
projects are expected to make a major contribution to the ongoing
regeneration of downtown Montreal.
Peter Cutler, Government and Infrastructure Advisory Partner at
Grant Thornton UK, said the CHUM PPP was the largest healthcare
advisory project taken on by the firm to date, and was set to
become a best practice model for future developments around the
world.
"We have now worked on PPP/PFI health initiatives in several
countries, but this is set to be the most challenging, and
rewarding, yet due to the scale and complexity of the work, and it
should set a strong precedent for future public/private ventures in
the sector."
Adding to the project's status, Britain's junior Health Minister
Lord Darzi recommended replicating the type of facilities provided
by the CHUM and CR-CHUM developments in the UK in last year's
Healthcare for London report. Dubbed Academic Health Science
Centres in the UK, these type of facilities were held up by Lord
Darzi as model for future health developments that combine care and
research.
Cutler said the project was being seen as a benchmark in Canada,
and it was likely a successful outcome would encourage a much
greater take up of the PPP mode, fast tracking large public
infrastructure developments.
Financial close is expected in Spring 2009, with construction
work to begin soon after.