Financial Due Diligence

Independent corporate finance analysis for investors navigating complex investment decisions across African markets.
Our approach combines over 20 years of African market experience with advanced expertise in international corporate finance and risk analysis.

There is no single methodology suitable for every investment. We determine the analytical approach according to the characteristics of the business, the transaction and the investor's objectives, developing tailored analytical models to analyse factors that influence business value and support investment decisions.

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When do investors engage us?

Cross-border structure reviews for investing in Africa

We leverage years of valuation and offshore finance experience across multi-layered structures and multiple jurisdictions. We maintain an impartial stance when analysing the true benefits of offshore jurisdictions based on investor profiles and underlying investments. We analyse the legal and structural flaws of offshore jurisdictions independently and objectively, ensuring your capital structure serves your investment objectives and risk appetite.

Corporate finance analysis for investing across Africa.

Dynamic cash flow and yield deconstruction

Our analyses look beyond accounting earnings to isolate the cash generation capacity of the business, assessing both asset-level cash flows (FCFF) and equity cash flows (FCFE) under the target's capital structure.
Rather than relying on generic discount rates, we construct risk-adjusted hurdle rates that reflect country-specific market volatility, currency exposure, liquidity constraints and other risks unique to African private markets.

Structural friction and cross-border capital engineering

We analyse capital mobility, identify structural bottlenecks, assess repatriation pathways and timelines, and quantify withholding tax leakages that erode distributable returns.
Our reviews assess how cross-border structures affect capital deployment, repatriation and exit, including potential lock-in risks during divestment.

Independent risk engineering and governance reality

We look beyond passive ESG checklists to assess governance, ESG and operational factors that influence investment risk and long-term value creation.
We evaluate board effectiveness, management incentives, shareholder alignment, ESG practices, operational controls, and strategic resilience to determine whether the investment framework is capable of protecting capital, mitigating risk, and supporting sustainable value creation.

Acquisition/Pre-Investment decisions

We are frequently solicited by investors prior to capital allocation when valuation reports rely heavily on assumptions that may not fully capture the underlying investment risks. Financial performance alone does not always explain cash generation, value creation through synergies, FX exposure, governance, ESG and geopolitical risks, or constraints around capital flows.

Distressed investments

We intervene in private-market distressed and special situations across Africa where reported financials are often the least reliable indicator of operational capacity.
Distressed investing here requires a different analytical framework from developed markets, whether the business is being evaluated for acquisition or held as an existing position. Limited comparable transactions, fragmented information, and inconsistent reporting mean value cannot be assessed through standard benchmarks alone.

We build our findings on true operational capacity, revenue generation drivers, downside scenarios and recovery potential to determine whether enterprise value can be protected against further erosion or enhanced through restructuring, recapitalisation, or operational turnaround.
Our analysis gives investors a clear view of what the business is actually worth, what it would take to stabilise and grow it, and the conditions that determine whether the opportunity is worth considering, pursuing or supporting with additional capital.

Ownership structures can materially alter the economics, control and potential outcome of an investment

Misalignment between ownership and economic exposure

We model the distribution waterfall across a range of exit scenarios to determine the economic value of an ownership position once liquidation preferences, conversion ratios and anti-dilution mechanics are applied, distinct from what the cap table implies.

Control without operational involvement

We quantify how the separation between economic ownership and decision-making influence affects the value and risk of an investment position, incorporating protections offered by consent rights over new equity rounds, additional debt, related-party transactions and material disposals directly into our valuation analysis.

Preserving optionality throughout the investment lifecycle

We quantify the impact of pre-emption rights, anti-dilution protection and exit mechanisms such as tag-along, drag-along and rights of first refusal by treating them as embedded options, and assess how they shift the investment's risk-return profile as capital needs, ownership and exit conditions change over its lifetime.

Ownership rights and value protection

Share ownership alone does not define an investor's ability to influence outcomes or protect value. We analyse whether the rights and protections attached to an investment position adequately address dilution risks, transfer restrictions, minority protections, future funding decisions, contractual enforceability and exit mechanisms.

Debt sustainability under African market conditions

For cross-border African investments, the measure of debt capacity is not the cash generated by the investment, but the cash that can reach the entity responsible for servicing the debt. An offshore borrower may appear adequately covered on consolidated projections while remaining dependent on distributions from African operating businesses exposed to currency convertibility, exchange controls, refinancing constraints and competing claims on cash.

We measure debt service coverage where cash is actually available within the investment structure. Our models trace cash from the underlying operations through each entity, currency and distribution layer to determine the amount and timing available to meet interest and principal payments.

We use stochastic modelling to adequately capture risks that interact over the life of the investment by simulating correlated movements in operating performance, exchange rates, interest rates, inflation pass-through and delays in upstreaming cash.
We produce forward distributions of DSCR at payment dates, probability and duration of coverage shortfalls, expected liquidity requirements, refinancing exposure and recovery values across capital structures.

We stress-test alternative debt amounts, currencies, maturities, amortisation profiles and hedging strategies to determine how each scenario affects equity returns and downside exposure before capital is committed.

Corporate finance-led