What are you asking your adviser to deliver?

“Help us raise finance” can cover an enormous amount of work. It may mean reviewing a business case, organising information, structuring a mandate, approaching selected institutions or coordinating a process already underway.

Without a clearer scope, the client and adviser can start with different assumptions about the same engagement.

AFC’s public description of project-development services illustrates the range of preparation and coordination that may sit around an infrastructure financing. An individual advisory appointment needs its own agreed boundaries.

Describe the work in observable terms

A revised financial model, an investment brief, a readiness review and a controlled introduction process are different deliverables. Identify what the adviser is responsible for producing and what the client must supply.

Dependencies should be explicit. An adviser cannot complete an evidenced financing case if essential accounts, contracts or ownership records remain unavailable. A work plan should make those constraints visible.

Fee arrangements, approval responsibilities and any exclusions also need clarity in the engagement documents, with suitable professional advice. A payment should be connected to agreed terms rather than assumptions built during conversation.

Keep the client involved in decisions

Useful coordination does not mean allowing an uncontrolled flow of representations to prospective financiers. Establish who approves materials, who communicates terms and how progress is reported.

A successful engagement can be assessed partly by the quality and completion of the agreed work, while recognising that financing decisions remain with the relevant institutions.

The stronger question is therefore what must be done to move the opportunity forward responsibly. Once that is defined, an adviser’s contribution becomes easier to understand, manage and evaluate.