Approach
Stages, decision points and fees.
A mandate may involve up to four stages. Each pre-completion stage ends at a clear decision point; Ground and Structure may overlap, while Govern begins only after completion and requires a separate engagement.
Indicative timetable — a full mandate
01 Mandate
Weeks 0–3
02 Ground
Weeks 3–20
03 Structure
From week 4, in parallel
04 Govern
From completion
Where a mandate starts at origination rather than at a named asset, add eight to fourteen weeks ahead of stage 02. Structure overlaps with Ground rather than following it: screening treated as a closing formality is a common reason a cross-border acquisition reaches signing and is then delayed.
01
Weeks 0–3
Mandate
We establish what you are trying to own, and what you will not accept in order to own it. Most of what follows is decided here, in writing, before any asset is named.
In the room
You, your principal decision-maker, and the founder. Nobody else, and no deck.
What we settle
Objective, market, sector, ticket range, control appetite, time horizon, and your fixed constraints.
You receive
A two-page mandate note. If you never engage us further, it is still yours to use.
02
Weeks 3–20
Ground
We go to the market and to the asset. We do not sign off a diligence report on a business we have not visited.
In the room
The founder and the local advisers engaged for the mandate, named to you before they start.
What happens
Site visits, management meetings, customer calls, and reconciliation of every adviser's findings into one view.
You receive
A consolidated diligence report, a red-flag register ranked by price impact, and a recommendation.
03
From week 4
Structure
We work the deal and the approval path together, because they interact. Ownership percentage, board rights and co-investor identity can each matter to screening as well as to commerce.
In the room
Counsel in the target jurisdiction, tax, and the founder. You appoint your legal, tax and regulatory advisers and contract with them directly; we coordinate their work and integrate their advice into the commercial workstream.
What happens
An early view with counsel on filing requirements, holding structure options, and a timetable built around the regulator rather than the seller's preference.
You receive
A structuring paper stating the trade-offs, and a negotiation position with the walk-away agreed in advance.
04
From completion
Govern
We stay after the money moves. Cross-border investments rarely fail at signing — they fail afterwards, reported through a management team with no particular incentive to raise problems early. Govern begins only after completion, under a separate engagement.
In the room
A board or observer appointment where the transaction provides for one, and the founder at every quarterly review. A director's duties are owed to the company — we say so before the seat is accepted.
What happens
The hundred-day plan tracked against the case at entry, and board papers challenged before the meeting.
You receive
Quarterly reporting in a format that does not change, and an annual view on hold, grow or exit.
Engagement
Fees are agreed by stage and do not depend on completion.
An adviser paid on completion has an interest in completion. We would rather not have one. Fees for each authorised stage are agreed in advance and do not depend on whether the transaction completes. At each decision point, you may choose not to authorise the next stage. Treatment of any mid-stage termination is set out in the engagement letter.
Scope fixed before we start
A written engagement letter setting out the stage, the deliverable and the fee.
Retainer and milestones
No hourly billing. You should never receive an invoice you could not have predicted.
Third-party costs at cost
Passed through without mark-up, with the invoices attached.
Conflicts declined, not managed
One mandate at a time in a given market and sector. If we are already acting on something adjacent, we say so and decline.
Fees are quoted per stage and per mandate. We do not quote before the stage 01 mandate note exists.
Staffing
How a mandate is actually staffed.
You pay for direct access to senior judgement, not for layers of staffing. The founder leads every mandate. Where associates or specialists are involved, they work under direct supervision and their role is disclosed to you before they start.
Counsel & tax
Appointed by you in the target jurisdiction. We coordinate their work and integrate their advice; we do not mark up their fees.
Sector specialists
Operators rather than researchers — people who have run the kind of asset in question, engaged for the deal.
Local advisers
On the ground in the market, engaged before the first site visit rather than after the first surprise.
Confidentiality
There are no client names on this website.
We do not publish client names, logos or case studies without prior written permission, and we do not ask for that permission as a condition of working together. If you need a reference, ask in a meeting and we will tell you plainly whether one can be arranged.
Before the first substantive meeting
A mutual non-disclosure agreement — yours or ours, we have no preference.
During the mandate
Deal information is not reused, not aggregated into research, and not shared beyond what an adviser's instruction requires.
Afterwards
The obligation does not expire when the engagement does.