Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2016-02-17"
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- Understanding capital structures for companies in the renewable energy marketPublication . Ricciardi, Luis de Sousa Coutinho; Reis, Ricardo César Ribeiro Ventura FerreiraIn order to understand renewable energy companies’ financing decisions, we analyzed 33 E.U. and 17 U.S. renewable energy producers from 2007 to 2014 and later analyzed EDP Renováveis and some of its peers in order to identify any patterns concerning their financing decisions. Our results were inconclusive but possibly suggest that pecking order theory partially explains capital structure decisions. Moreover, we believe business risk is an important determinant of financial structures. It seems that leverage is influenced by the way firms sell energy to the market and the way governments support their activity. The longer is the regulatory guidance provided by governments, the greater is the certainty concerning future expected cash flows which will consequently translate into higher levels of leverage.
- O dano da perda de chance na responsabilidade civil do advogadoPublication . Esteves, Diana Patrícia dos Santos Pires; Gomes, Júlio Manuel Vieira
- Cost-benefit analysis of road concessions in ColombiaPublication . Pinzón Pedraza, Maria Grazia; Reis, Ricardo César Ribeiro Ventura Ferreira; Sarmento, Joaquim MirandaSince the beginning of the 1990s, Colombia’s government has developed its national road network through concession models with private partners. The first three generations of concessions comprised a total of 22 projects to be executed along the country. They faced several problems, being the constant and costly renegotiations the evident cause of breaches to the contracts. This study aims to find out the impact to the country of the second and third generations of road concessions through a cost-benefit analysis (CBA). For this purpose, a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) was computed, considering scenarios with and without the additions to the contracts. It was found out that only 5 out of 11 projects analyzed had positive BCRs without renegotiations. After those were included, all projects became economically unviable under the conditions considered, stressing the impact of additions in the total costs of the projects. Unless environmental benefits and positive externalities not considered in the study accounted for values that balanced the total costs, most projects were not viable under a CBA and renegotiations worsened their position. Overall, renegotiations also need to be understood outside an economic analysis, as they were often used a tool to comply with the requirements of projects that were adjudged to private parties without assuring proper guarantees from their side.
- Projetos educativos municipais : que lógicas de construção, implicação e desenvolvimento?Publication . Teixeira, Luís Fernando da Silva; Alves, José Joaquim Ferreira MatiasA presente dissertação tem como objeto o estudo dos Projetos Educativos Municipais (PEM), procurando descrever, compreender e analisar a sua génese e desenvolvimento em 16 municípios da Área Metropolitana do Porto. Os PEM são instrumentos recentes da governação municipal da educação e procuram ser referências unificadoras da ação da comunidade alargada, possibilitando às populações uma oferta educativa de acordo com as suas necessidades e características. Os PEM visam identificar os pontos fortes e fracos que a comunidade/território apresentam, e consequentemente traçar linhas de ação para suprir as dificuldades observadas, potenciar, fomentar e valorizar os aspetos positivos dessas comunidades/territórios. No processo de construção do PEM, foram tidos em consideração os princípios e ideais subjacentes à Carta das Cidades Educadoras A Universidade Católica do Portuguesa, Porto (UCP) foi o parceiro estratégico e supervisor de todo o processo de construção, implicação e desenvolvimento dos diferentes PEM, para tal foi criada uma equipe técnica de consultadoria da UCP. Na construção do PEM estiveram envolvidas equipes multidisciplinares e transversais, UCP, autarquias, parceiros locais da educação e elementos com responsabilidades educativas representativos da comunidade local. Procurou-se perceber as vivências experienciadas pela equipe técnica, as suas perspetivas em todo o processo PEM. Formulou-se um conjunto de questões em torno do PEM, dando origem a um guião geral, a partir do qual se efetuaram entrevistas semiestruturadas à equipe técnica da UCP. Com os dados recolhidos das entrevistas, e através de processos metodológicos qualitativos foi possível realizar uma apreciação crítica que nos permitisse encontrar as linhas de ação, similares ou distintas, que marcaram o processo de construção do PEM na ótica dos consultores. Concluiu-se que o PEM é um instrumento relevante para a definição das políticas educativas locais, pois traduz uma estratégia educativa municipal, embora encontre muitas dificuldades de operacionalização. O PEM confere aos munícipes uma possibilidade de participação ampla e democrática na definição de políticas educativas. Contudo, apesar das sinergias estabelecidas, existe um défice de participação cívica, e como tal um reduzido trabalho colaborativo na procura de soluções que se adequem às comunidades a que pertencem.
- Financing infrastruture projects using PPPs : the case of the 4th generation of highways in ColombiaPublication . Arango Botero, Esteban; Reis, Ricardo César Ribeiro Ventura Ferreira; Sarmento, JoaquimPublic-private partnerships (PPPs) have become in a well-know model that is use around the globe for infrastructure development, especially for highways construction and operation. As the private sector becomes responsible for the availability and quality of the infrastructure, there are efficiencies and innovations expected that make the PPP model more suitable than traditional public procurement. Besides, PPPs are expected to evoke performance-based contracting, more solid regulation and are a financing alternative when there are budgetary fiscal constrains. The 4th Generation of highways is an ambitious PPP program developed by the Colombian government to build more than 30 highways in the country in the next 5 years, which contemplates investment of more than EUR 20 billion. This paper aims to analyze in detail the 4G program experience, to assess strengths and weaknesses of the Colombian model that could become on learning points for future PPP projects on emerging markets. Several findings on the lack of financing capacity by private partners, barriers on lending and immaturity of the institutional market, summed up to particular risks and lack of a more accurate planning, have made evident the dependency on public resources. Then, the question arise about the convenience of the PPP model and consideration of other alternatives for the development of the roads that are heavily required to boost the competitiveness of this emerging country.
- The case of Pepsico and Whitewave : mergers and acquisitions case studyPublication . Abrantes, Maria Lobato de Faria Lages; Assunção, António Luís Traça Borges deThis work is an analysis of the potential acquisition of WhiteWave by PepsiCo, two US publicly-traded players of the food and beverage industry. WhiteWave is a market leader in the emergent segments of the industry, including plant-based beverages and organic dairy. The firm presented a solid growth performance over the last periods and this trend is expected to continue as consumers are shifting their preferences from unhealthy food to protein, fiber, whole grains and organic products. A combined firm would benefit from the established presence of WhiteWave in the growing segments of the industry and the scale and expertise of PepsiCo. Together, they would combine the target’s skills in developing products with high consumer loyalty and growth potential, with the acquirer’s production’s capacity, scale and financial resources. We began by analyzing both firms separately using three valuation methods: the DCF-WACC, the APV and the market multiples approach. Using these three methods, we concluded that WhiteWave has an enterprise value between $8,601 and $9,634 million and PepsiCo one of $178,833 to $196,778 million. We calculated the value of the synergies by analyzing the impact of the acquisition on the target’s costs and growth opportunities and used its cost of capital as the discount rate. The total value of synergies is between $873 million and $1,182 million, of which approximately 75% is the result of cost savings. We recommend PepsiCo to acquire WhiteWave for a share price of $46,61 in cash, representing a 12% premium over the target’s market value.