Simon Johnson

Simon leads financial and commercial advisory engagements in the infrastructure sector. His experience spans social and economic infrastructure and renewables projects, throughout the project lifecycle and includes extensive highways, street lighting, education, waste, student accommodation and ‘blue light’ project experience.

Simon’s most recent engagements include leading the financial advisory mandate with the consortium for the successful bid and financial close of the LSE’s student accommodation PPP project and reaching financial close for two school PFI senior debt refinancing exercises, with a further two underway. Simon has also led a deep-dive review into potential savings for a waste PFI project, and supported the three partner Councils in the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership through the negotiation and implementation of the refinancing of their PFI project – providing the Partnership with a significant reduction in the price for future waste tonnage.

Simon joined from Local Partnerships, a public sector company owned by HM Treasury, the Local Government Association and the Welsh Government. While there he developed and led their refinancing service; he managed and closed eight PFI refinancing projects for councils across the UK. Therefore, Simon has a wealth of experience assisting public sector counterparties achieve optimal outcomes from their refinancing processes.

He started his career at BAE SYSTEMS, working on some of the earliest PFI and wider PPP model projects in the defence sector. He moved to the UK origination team at Dexia, one of the most active lending teams in the industry, leading on modelling, legal documentation and due diligence aspects of senior debt lending mandates. Simon subsequently joined the development and construction company Lend Lease, where he led all commercial, financial and funding aspects of bidding and closing infrastructure projects, with an emphasis on the waste sector.