PRISM

PRISM is a leading strategic intelligence firm specialising in the wider Eurasia region. We advise a select group of top-tier clients working in challenging markets and dealing with complex transactions, disputes, negotiations. Decades of work in commercial advisory, investigative and analytical contexts has given us deep regional and sectoral expertise. We combine a wide range of approaches, including extensive fieldwork, a large networking of high-quality contacts, and sophisticated investigative techniques.

Our areas of expertise include:

Government affairs and political risk

We work with boards, senior leadership, and government affairs and geopolitical risk teams to identify risks and mitigate their impact. We advise on diverse issues, including government policy and engagement, crises such as expropriation, strategic risks such as geopolitics, advocacy areas such as decarbonisation and ESG, and competitor activities.

We identify and analyse host governments’ strategies, capabilities, and internal dynamics. We unearth the motivations and intentions of stakeholders, including their informal political and commercial relationships.

Strategic deal advisory

We advise corporate strategy and business development teams on prospective and ongoing transactions. We anticipate risks emerging from government policy, key stakeholders, and competitor activities. We also screen for informal relationships that could lead to reputational and criminal exposure, or fraudulent or corrupt practices that create an uneven playing field.

We monitor threats to transactions expeditiously. We then work with our clients on methods of avoiding, mitigating, or transferring this risk. Our market experience also allows us to identify unexpected opportunities and potential counterparties.

Due diligence and compliance

Working for risk and compliance teams at large financial institutions and corporates, boutique emerging markets investors, and hedge funds and private equity, we conduct in-depth due diligence on individuals and businesses before acquisitions, capital markets deals, joint ventures, onboarding, and other commercial transactions.

We identify signs of suspected financial wrongdoing such as fraud, corruption, and sanctions evasion. We review the track record, and probity of people and firms to identify reputational risks. We unravel sources of wealth and beneficial ownership to ensure compliance with the UKBA, FCPA, sanctions regimes, and other legislation, and pre-emptively identify future sanctions risk.

Disputes and investigations

We gather evidence and intelligence for litigators, arbitrators, in-house counsel, insolvency practitioners, and strategic communicators from pre-proceeding to enforcement stages. We investigate suspected wrongdoing, identify beneficial ownership, trace the assets, income streams, and ‘pressure points’ of recalcitrant debtors, locate defendants and witnesses, identify third-party debtors and creditors, and monitor opponents’ activity. We also act as expert witnesses.

We also work with parties and their lawyers to devise non-legal resolutions to complex local and cross-border litigation and arbitration, as well as problematic relations with host governments. We identify political, institutional, business, informal and other barriers to resolution, help clients understand the negotiating culture, and advise on advocacy options and conduits to key decision makers.

PRISM is based in London, on Manchester Square, Marylebone.