SET Advisory

SET Advisory is a London-based consultancy that services an international client base providing corporate investigations, business intelligence, political risk assessments and advisory services.

We have an extensive network in Africa, the Middle East and Gulf area, Western Europe and Latin America. Our team is skilled, experienced and discreet, allowing us to work closely with clients to mitigate risks and make informed decisions in challenging business environments.

SET Advisory's clients include financial institutions, international oil & gas companies, law firms, consumer goods manufacturers, international consultancies and high-net-worth individuals.

SERVICES

SET Advisory provides tailored solutions to complex issues in challenging business and political environments. We specialise in providing corporate investigations, business intelligence, political and economic risk assessments in Africa, the Middle East and Gulf area, Western Europe and Latin America.

SET Advisory’s services are designed to meet our clients’ specific needs. We aim to mitigate their exposure to risk and enhance their financial performance.

We have access to a trustworthy network of local contacts in our regions of expertise, as well as to extensive public record databases.

SET Advisory's bespoke services include:

Reputational due diligence investigations
Political and economic risk analysis
Market entry studies
Asset tracing
On-site visits

SET Advisory carries out in-depth investigations into the integrity and reputation of our clients’ potential business partners. We aim to assess the level of risk exposure for our clients, ensure that they make informed decisions and that their business operates to the highest standards of governance, including compliance with relevant legislation such as the UK Bribery Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

SET Advisory helps its clients develop business opportunities in complex regions by undertaking in-depth political and economic risk analysis. This includes mapping out competitors, identifying key public and private sector players, providing a detailed overview of the economic, investment and political climate, and more generally, assessing the risks involved in operating or investing in a certain jurisdiction.

SET Advisory advises its clients on the best strategy to adopt when entering a new market in which they seek to establish and develop their business operations. We assess competitors’ activities, the opportunities in the targeted marketplace and the relevant legal, economic and political framework for our clients to make informed decisions.

SET Advisory assists clients in locating, tracing and recovering financial or physical assets across national borders, including properties and vehicles.

SET Advisory conducts discreet on-site visits for its clients in all the regions it specializes in: Africa, the Middle East and Gulf area, Western Europe and Latin America.

CASE STUDIES

Angola - due diligence and political and economic risk analysis
Nigeria - due diligence
Brazil - due diligence
South Africa - asset tracing and due diligence
Lebanon - due diligence
Tunisia - market entry and due diligence

SET Advisory undertook an in-depth due diligence into a large Angolan oil services company which our client sought to appoint as their local agent. We assessed the subject’s track record, reputation and ownership structure.

Our team also provided a tailored analysis of the business and economic risks that this relationship would entail. Through our source network, we established that the owner of the company had strong business links to members of Luanda’s political elite.

SET Advisory conducted a due diligence investigation into a family-owned Nigerian transport company. We assessed the integrity of its chairman, who in addition to his role in the company, held a senior position in the Nigerian government. A conflict of interest was identified as a result of his dual roles.

We also established other directors’ key government connections and their respective levels of influence over the company. Finally, we analysed the business strategies used by the company to drive its financial growth.

SET Advisory investigated a Brazilian investment company and its owners, a wealthy family involved in the freight sector. The company’s chairman was identified as having a controversial track record due to his involvement in suspicious business deals and his role in certain financial transactions. Our team also uncovered that the family was involved in several political scandals, including a well-known bribery case.

The company itself was found to have a significant litigation history, including disputes with former employees, failed acquisitions and the non-repayment of debts.

SET Advisory carried out a thorough due diligence into a prominent South African businesswoman who headed a group of companies in the food sector. Her political contacts, and her husband’s close links to senior politicians, were identified. An estimate of the value of the couple’s assets in South Africa and abroad was also provided.

Our team examined the businesswoman’s professional track record and identified numerous conflicts of interest which forced her to resign from previous positions. She was also found to be involved in numerous bribery scandals.

SET Advisory carried out a detailed investigation of several affiliated Lebanese banks and their principals. Through extensive desktop research, and our network of well-placed sources, we identified the principals’ business interests and political ties, and assessed their track records, reputations, and the origin of their wealth.

We also provided a detailed analysis of corruption allegations linked to the principals, which could potentially cause serious financial and reputational damage to our client.

SET Advisory conducted an extensive market entry study centred on the energy sector, as well as an in-depth due diligence on a Tunisian company and its owner. We undertook the project in view of a large investment the client planned to make in the sector.

We established the owner’s level of influence in the industry, his connections to former President Ben Ali and measured the reputational risks that a business partnership with him would entail. We also identified key decision makers in the government and the energy sector, and mapped out the identity of our client’s main competitors there.

ABOUT US

SET Advisory is composed of highly skilled, multi-cultural members with backgrounds in the private and public sector, including large consultancies, governmental institutions and law firms.

Our team has extensive, practical and on-the-ground experience in the countries in which it operates. We support our clients by providing in-depth investigations, advisory services and strategic analysis on sensitive and confidential matters.

SET Advisory operates at a very high standard, and undertakes projects in English, Portuguese, Arabic, French and Spanish.

For further information about our team, please contact us at [email protected].

CLIENTS

SET Advisory services an international client base including financial institutions, international oil and gas companies, law firms, international consultancies, consumer goods manufacturers, and high-net worth individuals.

We assist our clients in challenging environments. Our team has experience undertaking projects in a wide-range of fields including energy, mining, construction, defense and security, as well as healthcare, Information Technology and hospitality sectors.

CONTACT

Please contact us at:

SET Advisory Ltd
7 Beaufort Court
Admirals Way
London E14 9XL
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 207 633 9838

Email: [email protected]

Code of Conduct

We will provide our services to you with professionalism at all times in accordance with best practice.

The following standards will apply to all work carried out for you:

1. Confidentiality

We will maintain the confidentiality of all information of a sensitive nature that may be supplied to us during the course of providing our services to you. In particular we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your confidential information is protected at all times when in our custody or under our control whether in physical or electronic form.

2. Integrity

We will act with integrity and deal openly with any issues relating to our charges, adhering to time and cost estimates wherever possible and letting you know promptly if there are likely to be any material changes to any estimates provided. We will prepare reports and other information for you on an objective basis, using our experience of similar transactions and reliable sources of information. Only lawful methods of information gathering will be used.

3. Conflicts of interest

We will act to protect your proper interests at all times. We will ensure that we do not act for another client in a manner which could damage your interests. On receiving instructions on a new matter we will check our client database to see whether the subject of an enquiry or other named party is already a client of ours. If so, the new matter will only proceed if you consent to this in writing. For the purposes of our conflict of interest checks, a ‘current client’ is one who has paid an invoice for our services within the last three years.

4. Prevention of corruption

We are committed to providing our services in a lawful manner and in particular we do not permit bribes or other improper inducements to be made to or from either public officials or private individuals in relation to services provided by us. Areas of particular concern in this context are:

i. any form of bribe or kickback in the form of cash or other payments

ii. facilitation payments such as small payments to public officials to speed up routine transactions to which the payer is already entitled

iii. disproportionate gifts and hospitality – whilst we accept that small gifts may be offered or accepted to mark a special occasion, this should only be as an expression of goodwill and not in expectation of any favour or inducement

We encourage and expect those with whom we have a business relationship to adhere to similar principles of integrity in their commercial transactions.

5. Health and safety and the environment

We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of our clients, their personnel and any others who come into contact with us. We will use all reasonable endeavours to adopt safe working practices so as to minimise the risk of causing injury to our personnel, clients and others. We will also take care to adopt working practices and travel plans which minimise damage to the environment.

We understand the importance to our reputation of acting professionally and with integrity in all our dealings with clients.

Should you have any concerns or complaints about the handling of any matters by us, please raise this with our Director Edward Semple on [email protected].

Privacy and Legal Notices

This website is operated by SET Advisory Limited, with its registered office at 7 Beaufort Court, Admirals Way, London E14 9XL, with registered number 07832605 and VAT registration number GB 128 0756 14.

You may contact us on [email protected].

Maintaining the privacy of your personal information is important to us. We set out below how we will use your personal information.

1. We may use the following information:

i. information which you provide to us or send through to our website, including your name and e-mail address

ii. information about your visits to our website

iii. information which you provide to us when using our services

2. You must obtain the consent of any other person before disclosing their personal information to us.

3. Your personal information may be used by us to:

i. administer our website and business

ii. supply to you services provided through our website

iii. send invoices to you

iv. keep our website secure

4. We will not without your consent supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of that party’s direct marketing or for any improper purpose.

5. We may disclose your personal information to our employees, advisers, agents and others to the extent reasonably necessary for the proper performance of our services.

6. We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or other regulatory requirement and to any purchaser of any business or asset which we may sell.

7. Information collected by us may be transferred between any of the countries in which we operate.

8. We may retain your personal information if required to do so by law or if we believe the information may be relevant to legal proceedings or to protect our legal rights.

9. You acknowledge that sending information over the Internet may be insecure and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent by this means.

10. We may update this policy as required by publishing a new version on our website.

11. You may instruct us at any time not to process your personal information for marketing purposes.

12. We will use all reasonable endeavours to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.

13. We are not responsible for content or privacy policies of any third party websites which you may access through our website.

14. Please notify us should any of your personal information need to be updated or amended.

15. Use of cookies: we may use cookies to improve your use of our website, storing your preferences and avoiding your being treated as a new visitor each time you use a new page on our site. It will be possible to block or delete cookies but this may result in your losing some functionality when accessing our website. If you have any problem or query relating to our use of cookies please contact us on [email protected].