How we run a mandate, and who runs it

Our guide "How a capital raise runs" sets out the eight stages of a mandate in the order they happen. This piece looks at the same process from the other side. It describes who at the firm is responsible at each point, and the principles that shape the work.

One principle sits above the rest. Whoever wins the mandate also runs it. A client does not meet one team during the first conversations and a different team once the engagement is signed.

Before the market

The first conversation. Every mandate begins with a 30-minute conversation with Abbas Chothia, our Client Advisor. Abbas leads the firm's first conversations with managing directors, partners and founders. He asks what the client is raising, the timeline they are working to and what has already been tried. The client comes away with a direct first read on how the raise is likely to land with allocators. Abbas reviews what the client sends before the call, and what is shared is held in confidence.

Senior review. Our senior team then works through the materials and the terms. David Hunter, our Senior Advisor, and Anas Ansar, our Managing Partner, review the situation. Within 48 to 72 hours the client has a clear answer on whether we would take the mandate, and what we would change before any investor sees it.

That answer is a decision, and it can be no. Every mandate is reviewed before it is accepted, and every engagement is qualified before it begins. We work on equity raises only. Anas holds final authority on every mandate the firm accepts and signs each engagement on the firm's behalf.

Proposed approach and engagement. Where we would take the mandate, Abbas and David hold one call with the client. It covers how the raise would be positioned, which capital we would go to and in what order, and how the engagement is structured. The terms of the engagement are then confirmed in writing before any work begins.

The decision to take a mandate is made once, carefully. Everything after it follows from that decision.

Positioning. Before any allocator sees the raise, we shape the materials and the terms around the questions an investment committee asks before it commits. Our senior team reviews the deck, the data room, the track record and the terms, and tells the client what we would change. No investor sees a raise until the materials and terms are ready for a committee.

In the market

Our network first. The raise goes first to the pension funds, family offices, endowments and institutions we work with across the United States, Europe and the Gulf. Shayan Mohammed, our Managing Director, decides which investors each mandate reaches and in what order. The order is set to bring early commitments, because the allocators who see a raise first shape how the rest of the market reads it.

Introductions are made personally, with our name on each one, and only to investors whose mandate fits.

Meetings and diligence. We prepare every investor meeting with the client and attend the ones that decide the outcome. Diligence questions are handled as they arrive, so that momentum holds from the first meeting to the commitment. Anas supervises the mandate throughout, from the initial assessment through allocator engagement and close.

Terms and close. We stay in the conversations that decide the commitment, from the first indications of interest through final terms and side letters, until the capital is committed and the raise is closed.

Wider reach, only if needed. Where our network does not cover the full raise, we extend it to further investors selected for the fund. Each receives an approach written for them, and the same preparation stands behind every meeting.

After the close

Investor relations. Once the capital is in, we keep the relationships we opened working for the client through regular contact on their behalf. The purpose is practical. The next raise starts with investors who already know the manager and how it delivers.

The principles behind it

The stages above rest on a short set of principles that we apply to every mandate.

Prepared before we introduce. Most of the work that decides a raise happens before any investor sees the materials. That is where we put the most effort.

Our name on every introduction. An introduction from us carries weight with an allocator only if it is made selectively. We make introductions personally, and only where the fit is there on both sides.

Plain answers. A client has our view on whether we would take the mandate within 48 to 72 hours of senior review. If the answer is no, we say so.

The same people throughout. The people who assess a mandate are the people who run it, from the first review to the close and into investor relations.

What a client can expect

A client working with us knows from the start who is responsible for each part of the raise. They know the materials will be tested against committee questions before any allocator reads them, and that the order of introductions has been decided with intent. After the close, they keep a working relationship with the investors they raised from.

For information only. Nothing here constitutes an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.