West Sands

A client with limited internal resources was seeking to increase investment exposure in the Caucasus. West Sands was tasked to use its intelligence network to help identify opportunities and make a direct introduction between our client and the ultimate decision maker of the asset of interest.

West Sands helped identify the opportunities and decision-makers, thus providing our client with competitive advantage.

West Sands helped a client gain transparency on the intersection between the financial sector, Government, ruling elite and key businesses of a Central Asia frontier economy.

The specific intelligence findings enabled the client to take a risk-adjusted decision over how to engage the market and where best to avoid exposure to possible financial risk.

A client was looking to establish an investment platform in the region with a local investment team that claimed privileged business and political ties. West Sands conducted an investigation that revealed the local team had no significant access to indigenous or outlying markets.

The client decided to reconsider their growth strategy in this region and identified an alternative route to market with our assistance.

West Sands was asked to help determine whether there was a collusive relationship between minority shareholders in a strategic asset in which the client held a stake. Evidence of collusion was uncovered between two shareholders seeking to create an obstacle to a merger the client considered essential for future growth. As the asset was strategic, the client had the information necessary to properly navigate their stake.

Seeking opportunities in the Russian financial sector, West Sands helped a client gain a clear understanding of the potential for Government intervention. This was done by identifying companies likely to be sacrificed in a Government sweep, those that were considered strategic and thus more likely to gain Government protection, and the tools the Government would likely deploy.

West Sands' advice helped the client make a more informed decision over which corporate entities to avoid.

West Sands monitored a client's portfolio companies in Africa. Focused on making socially responsible investments, the client wanted to ensure that their investments were transparent and maintained a high degree of integrity.

The client was provided with an update of developments that could impact their business interests. During the course of such updates, a potential conflict of interest was uncovered, as was pending litigation and environmental issues hidden from media coverage.

A private equity client interested in expanding their holdings in the Balkans engaged West Sands to help identify pre-qualified investment targets. Sure of their target industries, but unsure of where to focus their investment, West Sands isolated key markets and potential acquisition targets based on mutually developed strategic and operational investment parameters.

A client with energy-related interests in Kazakhstan tasked West Sands to produce an analysis of the elite-structures in Kazakhstan and the mechanisms they used to apply pressure on foreign businesses operating in the industry. In producing this report, West Sands also provided an influence map that illustrated relations between key companies and individuals, including politicians and other influential personalities able to exert influence on government decision-makers.

West Sands was tasked to compile a relationship map focused on illustrating political, business and criminal relationships in the energy and financial sectors of Afghanistan. The map was conducted around several commercial targets of interest to the client, and identified and profiled key stakeholders and their alliances and allegiances. This exercise helped the board of directors measure the potential impact various relationships had or could have on any further development of the clients' specific interests.

West Sands was mandated by a client who owned mining interests in Colombia to provide an assessment of criminal and insurgent influence in the regions in which their mines operated. Reporting included an analysis of known and potential adversaries in the area, their capabilities and methodologies (i.e. extortion, blockades, kidnapping), and the probability of such attacks being perpetrated against each mine. The assessment was used for various risk management functions, including informing route security.