At heart, we are strategic crisis project managers, pre-empting and resolving corporate crises. As industry veterans who have endured and resolved crises ourselves, we speak with the authority of direct, lived experience. We have earned an enviable track-record of resolving multiple crises successfully. It is our first-hand knowledge and experience that makes us uniquely placed to partner with our clients who are facing their crisis for the first time. Put simply, we are far more than advisers; we are principals with valuable experience, knowledge and relevant networks to provide game-changing insights. This is why we know we offer superior solutions to shepherd our clients through to success - saving time, money and the potentially devastating effect of years of uncertainty.
We partner with our clients as principals, investing heavily in their success on a win-win basis. We are not advisers endlessly gleaning ongoing fees but invest our time as partners remunerated on success. We invest with you through the storm and beyond. Our solution-based mindset and financial commitment to success underpin our vision to become the unconflicted partner of choice for select investors, corporations and individuals in the governance and regulatory space. Our knowledge, network and personal experience allow us to identify and deliver holistic solutions to potentially catastrophic problems that save time, energy, cost, and massive stakeholder value. Co-founded by Saman Ahsani, Elysium’s credibility and expertise are based on our unique personal experiences as well as the successful track record of our colleagues, partners and subject-matter experts who span the globe.
Our culture & people are our most valuable asset. Thanks to our direct interaction and shared experiences, we are considered credible counterparties by government agencies, regulatory bodies and financial investors.
Whilst our colleagues’ academic and business credentials are second to none, it is our decades of international, operational and investment experience that allows us to identify solutions and resolve challenges that others misunderstand or fail to spot. Our creative resolutions are based on hard-won personal experience backed with the intellectual rigour of the best-trained minds and apprenticeships. With degrees and MBAs from Oxford University, Insead, and the London Business School, our colleagues have enjoyed distinguished prior careers at Goldman Sachs, Lazard Freres, Merrill Lynch and Ernst & Young, sitting on the boards of publicly listed companies and lecturing at leading universities like University College London.
Our business experience comes from a broad spectrum of industry sectors, including oil and gas contracting and asset development businesses, technology, risk management and financial services companies creating over $500 million in equity value.
Our expertise and government-level interaction spans much of Africa, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. We also work closely with partners and subject-matter experts with a deep understanding of law enforcement, regulatory and compliance bodies across the globe.
Our guiding values of Integrity, Partnership and Excellence are embodied in our success-based remuneration. Unlike most advisers, we are unconflicted and utterly focused on your success. More than mere consultants offering advice, we are judged and rewarded on the delivery of successful outcomes across a spectrum of disciplines, including governance and enforcement, corporate and personal finance, asset and value protection, and reputation management – because a crisis affects all these aspects simultaneously.
Governance advice and compliance enhancement
We understand how to identify issues because, as ex-industry practitioners, we know where potential problems are hidden. Reacting late or in an unsophisticated manner can lead to material value destruction. Our first objective is to engage our early warning system to develop an initial roadmap to success. We then conduct detailed pre-emptive risk assessments driven by our proprietary methodologies, as well as forensic analyses of financial transactions and operating procedures to understand and address compliance weaknesses and threats. This allows us to implement alternative ways of doing business effectively within the law. We proactively identify rogue elements early enough to enable our clients to anticipate and manage potentially catastrophic problems and avoid any material harm.
Dialogue with regulators and law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions
We regularly interact with multi-jurisdictional bodies to allow our clients to navigate their interests to a positive resolution. Always working under legal privilege, our advice and networks complement traditional white-collar defence law firms. We happily work alongside legal teams. Whilst we are agnostic as to which law firms we collaborate with and manage, we ensure our experience and feedback help determine legal strategy to avoid the conflicts of interest well-publicised in this sector. As such, we are considered credible counterparties by law enforcement agencies, given our direct experience working with them.
Crisis project management
Through personal and challenging experience, we understand what truly matters when a crisis strikes and how to manage every facet of that crisis – not just the legal ramifications. The wheels of justice do turn, but they tend to turn slowly. Conversely, corporate financial health, reputation and resilience can be affected overnight. Our clients benefit immensely from the fact that we have already experienced every aspect of what they are encountering for the first time. We focus on what matters and bringing resolution as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Investors
Sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms, and hedge funds investing in pre-IPO or public companies who are concerned regarding the commercial risks their investees and employees may be taking to generate revenue, possibly exposing them to enhanced scrutiny from law enforcement.
Businesses
Corporations with over $250 million in annual revenue operating in higher-risk markets or industries that are, or may soon be, in the crosshairs of law enforcement.
Individuals
Owners or founders of conglomerates exposed to market, industry, and designation risks or subject to enforcement action. Often distracted by multiple draws on their attention, these sophisticated operators are accustomed to working with professional advisers but seek greater strategic impact and proven value.
Pro-bono
Service to others is the ultimate path to success and fulfilment. We welcome opportunities to assist those unable to afford hefty up-front retainers and costly ongoing fees. It is our honour and privilege to assist those truly in need.
Sovereign Wealth Fund wants to assess how to minimise exposure for one of its pre-IPO portfolio companies.
Risk - the glare of the public market leads to the identification of hidden exposures, resulting in the loss of massive shareholder value and reputation.
Elysium solution - to scope a targeted and legally privileged internal investigation led by our industry experts ahead of time to assess the correct downside risk. Once evaluated, proactively work through solutions which allow for continued revenue growth whilst eliminating reputational and legal risk.
Why Elysium? Our industry and enforcement knowledge allows the investigation to pinpoint critical risks and potential solutions quickly and with confidence.
An individual is linked to designated or sanctioned entities.
Risk - the individual may become designated themselves, thereby losing control of their personal and corporate assets overnight as they become tainted and are frozen. Their counterparts are forbidden by law from interacting with them.
Elysium solution - always working under an approved licence, we proactively engage with the relevant authorities early to set the context of our client’s interaction with the designated entities and avoid a knee-jerk reaction by the authority.
Why Elysium? Because the relevant authority already considers Elysium a credible, unconflicted counterparty to represent the client’s proper role accurately.
Publicly listed corporate - implicated through a related investigation into third - party individuals.
Risk - the cooperation of third-party individuals risks bringing the corporation under public investigation, leading to a significant drop in the share price and possible criminal prosecution.
Elysium solution - we assess the company's likely risk and exposure by determining the type, extent, and likely impact of the cooperation available, given our industry know-how and networks.
Why Elysium? Because our prior experience of cooperation means we better understand the process and timelines involved in multiple jurisdictions and how they differ. More than any legalistic or box-ticking approach, we can measure and convey the exposure to the corporation far more accurately than a non-industry-based practitioner.