Practice area

Complex Markets & Governance

In difficult markets, who holds power and how securely they hold it can decide the fate of a contract or an investment. We help clients judge political stability and understand what change would mean for their contracts, investments, and projects.

The challenge

Many of the world's fastest-growing and most resource-rich markets are also its least predictable. Contested elections, weak institutions and governments in transition can change who holds power quickly. Shifting relationships can alter a country's access to financing and markets.

How we help

For investors and lenders, political change can affect the value of a contract, an ownership stake or the ability to move money out of a country, usually faster than the market notices. Our advisors bring direct experience in these environments and help clients judge political risk as carefully as financial risk.

  • Who holds power, how secure their position is, and what could change it
  • How courts, corruption and political turnover affect contracts, ownership rights and capital repatriation
  • How a country's standing with the U.S. and its allies affects risk and opportunity

Companies operating or building in these markets need to know who they're really dealing with, and have a plan if the ground shifts.

  • Projects that require several governments to agree, or depend on one government's relations with the West
  • U.S. and allied financing and political support, such as DFC and EXIM, and the conditions attached
  • Asset protection and exit planning if conditions deteriorate

Regions

Where our expertise reaches

This practice area is advised on across Europe, Asia and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, through the firm's own relationships and its wider network of experts.

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