Infrastructure Projects

A global investment fund was considering an investment in a regional telecommunications firm with operations throughout Southeast Asia. 

Comprehensive assessment

A robust mitigation strategy

An Asian private equity firm was considering an investment in a Japan-based logistics company. They wanted to better understand the reputation of its three wholly owned subsidiaries and its joint venture with an international partner. 

Deep Japanese-language research

Our Japanese-language research found that the target had been publicly criticised by regulators for enforcing long working hours and had been cautioned to observe Japan’s fair-competition laws. Meanwhile, our source interviews found that the company generally had a positive market reputation.

Our research also showed that the main director was beyond the age of retirement and had not selected a successor. This created uncertainty both within the business and among its key customers regarding the company's long-term prospects.

Ready for negotiation

Our information about the company’s reputation, track record with regulators, and potential succession issues gave the firm confidence when they sat down at the negotiating table. 

A European renewable energy infrastructure fund required a series of research projects into market players in the offshore wind power sector. 

Links to crime and challenges around activism

Control Risks conducted public-record research and made discreet enquiries and site visits. Most of the entities and individuals reviewed had low public profiles with little discernible track record in energy or infrastructure.

While most of the prospective partners had little local presence and sector reputation, our team did identify some with links to local organised crime groups and some who had been accused of corruption and licence squatting. In some cases, even well-known and reputable wind farm developers faced operational difficulties from protests by local communities and fishery groups, often rumoured to have been mobilised by politically motivated actors. 

Achieving profitability and sustainability

The fund used our information on a case-by-case basis to ensure that its decision-making optimised its investors’ intention to realise genuinely sustainable and profitable projects. 

This client was building a new office in an East African country with a history of extremist attacks against national institutions. Physical and technical security measures were required. 

Independent assessment of attack scenarios

Control Risks’ in-house security design engineering team undertook an independent assessment of the credible explosive-based attack scenarios, paying attention to the credible size of explosive devices and the standoff at which these might be detonated. 

Our team developed a digital model of the proposed development and ran various explosion modelling to identify the likely building and façade response. Where the outcome exceeded our client’s stated tolerable loss criteria, we provided design guidance to ensure appropriate mitigation measures were incorporated into the building structural design. We also developed a blast mitigation performance requirement for the façade tender. 

A comprehensive tender

With our support, the client ensured that appropriate blast mitigation measures were incorporated into the new structural design and an appropriate blast-mitigated façade performance specification was issued as part of our client’s tender documents.