The Firm: International Transaction Advisory and Litigation Expert Witness Services

Transaction Advisory Services

Our Transaction Advisory Services focus on the design and execution of cross-border investment and trade deals utilizing a data-driven, financed-based approach.  We first calibrate the drivers of the commercial opportunity-risk tradeoffs that will characterize such transactions into or from high-growth emerging markets; we then help structure the deals to maximize risk-adjusted rates of return.

We work closely with our clients to search for and exploit new 'opportunities for arbitrage' that arise from significant misperceptions of risks and rewards, which are pronounced in emerging markets. These misperceptions, on both sides of the risk-reward ledger, are both far more common and larger than conventional approaches reveal.

Unlike other similarly focused consultancies, who generally rely on extrapolations of rear-view mirror data that are often assessed in the aggregate, our expertise centers on unbundling the on-the-ground market determinants of prospective investment conditions and assess the functioning of the multidimensional dynamics that will drive them. This skill derives from our extensive field-level investment and operational experience—both in the C-suite and on the factory-floor—working in more than 75 emerging markets across 5 continents for more than 3 decades implementing complex cross-border transactions, transforming corporate governance incentives, and assessing ways to reduce exposure to risks, including those arising from FCPA-related matters. 

It is also rooted in our work over the years advising emerging market sovereigns on the design of their policies toward foreign investment.  Equally important, we have deep experience in developing and executing the regulatory regime governing inbound foreign investment by emerging market businesses into advanced countries, especially into the U.S.—for example with respect to the inner workings of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). 

As a result, we provide hands-on transactional advice that is highly pragmatic for investment decision-makers.

Litigation Expert Witness Services

Either as a direct component of, or independent from, our transaction-related advisory services, we work hand-in-hand with senior management teams, C-Suite Executives, and Boards of Directors on the execution of all phases of a transaction.  To this end, our firm provides independent Litigation Expert Witness Services--including analytical reports, data and policy assessments, depositions and courtroom testimony--in legal cases involving investment and trade disputes (including CFIUS matters); antitrust and regulatory issues; corporate governance and property rights; FCPA violations and corruption; and economic damages that may arise in prospective, existing or past cross-border transactions, especially stemming from the conduct of governments, rivals and activist stakeholders.

Why We’re Different

Put simply, in contrast to typical business advisory firms, including those with very well-known names, our function is to not simply deliver a strategy--the "inputs"--and then leave the implementation up to the client, who often asks: “What do I do now?”   Rather, we are a vertically integrated service provider and focused on delivering "outcomes" in collaboration with the client.

Who Are Our Clients?

Our clients consist of corporations; private equity and sovereign wealth funds; investment banks; institutional investors, pension funds and endowments; and family offices. And, they cut across varying nationalities, sizes, sectors and ownership forms, both private and public.

Where We Are Located

Our firm is headquartered in Washington, DC and the team is comprised of select strategic relationships with senior professionals across a variety of disciplines throughout the emerging markets.