Reducing the debt: is it optimal to outsource an investment?

This paper deals with the problem of outsourcing the debt for a big investment, according two types of contract: either the firm outsources both the investment (and the associated debt) and the exploitation to another firm (for example a private consortium), or the firm supports the debt and the investment but outsources the exploitation. We prove the existence of Stackelberg and Nash equilibria between the firms, for both types of contract. We compare the benefits of these contracts, theoretically and numerically. We conclude with a study of what happens in case of incomplete information, in the sense that the risk aversion coefficient of each partner may be unknown by the other partner.