The difference sits beyond the label. An adviser sells a recommendation and leaves; a fund manages other people's money under its own mandate. We hold our own assets and run our clients' transactions at the same time — and each side checks the other.
| Adviser | Fund | Investment house | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it earns | a fee for the process | management fee and carry | transaction fee and income from its own assets |
| What it risks | reputation | investors' money | its own money |
| Horizon | until the report is delivered | the life of the fund | the life of the asset |
| Whose objective prevails | the client's, while the project runs | the fund's strategy | the client's, within what we do ourselves |
The practical meaning of the third column is simple: we have been through acquisition, management and disposal on our own properties. Valuation is therefore built on the buyer's logic — cash flow, risk and entry price.
Sale and purchase of businesses in the RUB 300m – 5bn range, independent valuation, due diligence, deal packaging, structure and financing, support through closing.
Commercial property, hotel assets, development projects. The portfolio is both a source of competence and a source of discipline: an error in valuing our own asset is measured in money.
We work in the RUB 300m – 5bn range deliberately.
Large advisers serve transactions from RUB 5bn upwards: their team costs more than the fee on anything smaller. Below that begins the territory of brokers of small going concerns, where an asset worth several hundred million is presented the way a coffee shop is. Between these two worlds sit the companies that form the backbone of private business in the country and that are left unserved at the moment of sale.
Our structure allows us to run such assets to investment-bank standards of documentation: analysis, model, valuation and memorandum are produced by a defined process, while people are deployed where people are required — in meetings and negotiation.
The firm's partners have taken part in mergers and acquisitions with an aggregate value above $1bn — in a range of roles and across a range of sectors. Publicly we describe the part that confidentiality agreements permit.
The range rests on the data provided and is refined through due diligence. A guarantee in this market comes from someone counting on the absence of scrutiny.
Where an asset needs preparation, we set out the list of work at the outset rather than charging for a process.