Sectors We Serve
We do not work outside what we know. Five sectors account for the bulk of our practice.
Infrastructure & Energy
Reading the sector
The region has a well-documented infrastructure deficit, yet bankable projects remain scarce: the difficulty is not identifying needs but structuring transactions that international lenders can finance without excessive reliance on sovereign guarantees. Energy, transport and water account for most of the sub-region's long-term financing needs.
What we do here
- Structuring of non-recourse or limited-recourse project financing
- BOT, BOOT and concession arrangements, for granting authorities as well as sponsors
- Financial modelling and sensitivity testing on traffic, tariff and currency scenarios
- Negotiation of loan agreements and guarantees with development institutions
Questions we know how to handle
- How do you structure the financing of a BOT power plant with no recourse to sponsors?
- What risk allocation should a toll-road concession contract adopt?
- How do you combine a partial sovereign guarantee with commercial financing?
Structuring of energy infrastructure financing for an operator in West Africa — named references available on request, subject to applicable confidentiality agreements.
Mining & Logistics
Reading the sector
Guinea holds some of the continent's largest mineral reserves. The economic value of these resources depends directly on the ability to finance the logistics infrastructure that connects them to market: railways, mineral ports, road corridors. This is a sector where financial engineering and contractual engineering are inseparable.
What we do here
- Structuring of financing backed by off-take agreements
- Advisory to mining operators and their logistics partners
- Credit analysis and rating of extractive-sector counterparties
- Structuring of guarantees and security interests over industrial assets
Questions we know how to handle
- How do you back a railway infrastructure financing with a mining off-take contract?
- What guarantee structure suits a logistics investment shared between several operators?
- How do you assess the counterparty risk of a commodities trader?
Structuring advisory for a logistics infrastructure project linked to the extractive sector — named references available on request, subject to applicable confidentiality agreements.
Agro-industry
Reading the sector
West African agro-industry suffers less from a shortage of land or labour than from a lack of pre-harvest financing and local processing capacity. Agricultural finance remains structurally more expensive than in other sectors, for want of guarantee instruments suited to the production cycle.
What we do here
- Structuring of pre-harvest financing backed by offtake agreements
- Advisory to local processing units on their financing plan
- Mobilisation of concessional financing and guarantees from development institutions
- Islamic structuring of the Salam or Murabaha type for agricultural cycles
Questions we know how to handle
- What guarantee architecture suits a pre-harvest financing facility?
- How do you structure a Salam-type Islamic financing for an agricultural cooperative?
- How do you combine harvest guarantees with export currency risk cover?
Structuring advisory for an agro-industrial processing unit — named references available on request, subject to applicable confidentiality agreements.
Real Estate & Construction
Reading the sector
West Africa's urban growth is creating structural demand for housing, offices and commercial space that conventional financing covers poorly, particularly in mid-market segments. Secure land titles and the quality of legal structuring determine access to financing at least as much as the intrinsic quality of the project.
What we do here
- Structuring of real estate development and off-plan sale (VEFA) financing
- Advisory to developers on the legal and financial structuring of transactions
- Ijara-type Islamic structuring for the acquisition of real estate assets
- Capital raising from regional institutional investors
Questions we know how to handle
- How do you secure the financing of a development before the final permit is obtained?
- Which Ijara structure suits an institutional investor seeking Shariah-compliant rental income?
- How do you structure a capital raise from several regional institutional investors?
Structuring advisory for a mixed-use real estate programme — named references available on request, subject to applicable confidentiality agreements.
Financial Institutions
Reading the sector
The region's financial institutions — banks, insurance companies, microfinance institutions, pension funds — share a common need: access to deeper capital markets, reliable research, and modernised information systems without exclusive reliance on international vendors disconnected from the local context.
What we do here
- Securities placement on behalf of financial issuers
- Rating and credit analysis of financial counterparties
- Balance sheet structuring and asset-liability management advisory
- Deployment of technology solutions: regulatory reporting, scoring, aggregation
Questions we know how to handle
- How do you structure a bond issuance for a regional financial institution?
- What internal rating framework should a pension fund put in place?
- How do you modernise a regulatory reporting system without disrupting operations?
Technology and financial advisory for a regional financial institution — named references available on request, subject to applicable confidentiality agreements.
Your sector isn't listed here?
We would rather decline a mandate than accept one outside our expertise. Write to us: we will tell you plainly whether we are the right firm for the job.
