Roberto Masud
Roberto Masud

The complexities of cross-border financial transactions ensure that there are not many experts who understand the dynamics involved in multi-jurisdictional legal, tax, regulatory, and financial strategies required to execute international deals.

In reality, they are the torchbearers of globalisation, creating significant value in terms of economic progress.

London-based Masud International Limited is one advisory firm drawing on decades of experience in international deals, but with a difference. Steering the multidisciplinary advisory platform is its managing director, Roberto Masud (also known as Robert Masud), who has led the firm through a growth path which has defied the industry trajectory.

Before founding Masud International Limited, Roberto Masud's career moved through law, international finance, banking, private equity and cross-border transactions. The firm has been able to stand out with international clients whose transactions cannot easily be separated into a purely financial, legal or commercial mandate.

It claims to have successfully navigated increasingly complex transactions where there isn't an obvious playbook for cross-border investments, strategic partnerships, acquisitions, capital formation, joint ventures and situations where significant capital needs to be connected with a credible opportunity.

Roberto reasons that the most difficult international transactions rarely fit into one professional category, and therefore he felt the need for Masud International Limited, bringing finance, structure, negotiation, governance and execution together under one platform.

Before that, Masud says his representative work included serving as Special Financial Envoy to the Republic of Ecuador and acting as primary lawyer in negotiations involving loan agreements of up to US$7.5 billion with Dubai World and Nakheel Properties.

He has also advised on landmark education-sector financings in Latin America, including Inter-American Development Bank lending, institutional credit-rating work, and a US$200 million Brazilian university bond issue.

'I established Masud International Limited because I saw a gap between advice and execution. There are plenty of firms that can give you a legal opinion, a financial analysis or an investment recommendation.

'What I wanted to build was something more integrated - an organisation that could look at the opportunity, understand the structure, identify the risks, bring the right people to the table and help move the transaction toward execution,' he says.

Claiming to be more interested in solving problems than simply describing them, Masud explains that international transactions can become complicated very quickly with multiple jurisdictions, banks, investors, governments, advisers and commercial interests involved, and therefore need a holistic approach.

'I didn't establish the firm because I thought the world needed another advisory company. I established it because I believed there was a better way to put experience, relationships and execution together, and actually get things done,' he says.

Masud claims to have learnt from experience that what a client initially thinks is the problem isn't always the real problem, and therefore when a client first comes to him, he doesn't start with the documents but with a conversation.

'I ask my clients a lot of questions. What are you really trying to accomplish? Why now? Who are the people on the other side? Where is the capital coming from? Who controls the transaction? And, importantly, what happens if something goes wrong?' he says.

Having worked on different sides of the transactions over the years has changed the way Masud looks at them. As a lawyer, he learned to look for risk and understand the consequences of the structure.

In finance and private equity, he learned to focus on economics and returns. Working with banks taught him how important credibility, compliance and execution are. And international work taught him that a structure that looks perfect on paper can still fail because of people, relationships or realities on the ground.

Masud does not think of himself as an adviser in the traditional sense, as he likes to stay involved until the transaction actually gets done. After all these years, he still enjoys the challenge of taking up something that initially looks complicated and figuring out how to make it work in the real world.

'I tend to pull the transaction apart and look at all of those pieces before deciding how to put it together. Sometimes that means changing the client's original idea. Sometimes it means finding a different partner or structure. And sometimes I tell them, I don't think you should do this,' he says.

After having spent a great deal of time on individual deals, negotiating agreements, working through financing structures and dealing with the legal and financial issues that came with them, he now sees Masud International Limited as an organisation seeing the larger picture.

'I think the strongest fit for Masud International Limited today is a client who has a real opportunity but needs someone who can see the entire transaction, not just one piece of it,' he says.

Through Masud International Limited, Masud is currently working with entrepreneurs, investors, companies, family offices and institutional participants who are dealing with complex or cross-border opportunities like entering a new market, structuring an investment, arranging financing, acquiring a business, establishing a joint venture or putting together strategic relationships.

'Where I tend to be most useful is when there are multiple moving parts, multiple jurisdictions, significant capital or difficult counterparties, and someone needs to step back and see how everything fits together. I'm more selective about the work I take on today than I was earlier in my career.

Nearly four decades of experience teaches you that not every opportunity is a good opportunity,' he says. So he doesn't want Masud International Limited to be all things to all people, but a platform where judgment, relationships and experience converge to produce positive outcomes.

Masud International Limited works across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, but Masud does not look at those markets as interchangeable. The firm looks at each market differently, and approaches each of them differently after understanding the jurisdiction, the regulatory environment and the institutional culture.

Masud sees Europe as a market of sophistication and complexity where the challenge is often not finding the opportunity but structuring it correctly.

Latin America, on the other hand, has tremendous potential in energy, infrastructure, natural resources, financial services, technology and privately-owned businesses that are looking for international capital or expansion, but political cycles, local regulation and the strength of relationships are challenges.

'In my experience, knowing the market and knowing the people can be just as important as knowing the numbers. A transaction can make perfect financial sense and still be difficult to execute if you haven't understood the local environment,' Masud says.

The Middle East, he says, stands out as the combination of substantial capital, ambitious development plans and a willingness to think on a very large and often very long-term scale.

'There are major opportunities in infrastructure, energy, technology, financial services and new industries. But relationships, reputation and institutional credibility are extremely important.

'My experience during the Dubai financial crisis reinforced that lesson for me. When you're dealing with transactions of enormous scale, understanding the people and institutions behind the transaction is every bit as important as understanding the financial structure,' he says.

But Masud International Limited sees beyond these individual markets and finds an interesting intersection between the three.

Europe has capital, technology and established businesses. Latin America has resources, growing markets and opportunities that require capital and expertise, while the Middle East has significant pools of capital and an increasing appetite for international investment.

'This creates very interesting cross-border possibilities. I start with the opportunity and work backward. Where is the value? What does the business need? Where should the capital come from? Who needs to be involved? What jurisdiction makes sense? And how do we protect the investment if circumstances change?

'That's really the advantage of having worked across these markets for so many years. I've learned that there is no universal formula for international business,' he says.

Europe requires precision. Latin America requires local understanding and adaptability.

The Middle East requires relationships, credibility and a long-term perspective. Masud International Limited claims to have the intellectual infrastructure to bring those differences together intelligently, because it believes that's where a cross-border transaction can become much more than simply moving capital from one country to another.

Therefore, Masud wants Masud International Limited to become a trusted bridge between capital, opportunity and people who can actually execute - particularly when those people or opportunities are sitting in different countries, different markets or different financial systems.

Taking the firm forward 10 years from now, Masud is clear about not confusing size with significance. Rather than seeing it grow in size, he would prefer to build something much more enduring.

'I've spent nearly four decades sitting across the table from investors, entrepreneurs, bankers, lawyers, governments and business owners. One thing that experience has taught me is that the really valuable relationships aren't transactional.

'They compound. So I want to spend the next stage of my career building relationships with people I respect and trust - people who are thinking beyond the next deal. I want to know what they are trying to build, where they want to go and what obstacles are standing in their way. Then, when the right opportunity comes along, we already know each other,' he says.

But there is another part of the vision that is important to Masud. He wants Masud International Limited to be a firm that is willing to say 'no'. 'Sometimes the most valuable advice you can give someone is that the opportunity isn't right, the structure isn't right, the people aren't right, or the timing isn't right.

'If I can build a firm where sophisticated people know that when they bring us something, they're going to get an honest assessment, creative thinking, access to the right relationships and, if we decide to proceed, a determined focus on execution - that would mean something to me,' he says.

Ultimately, Masud does not see his legacy as just a list of deals. He would want it to be a network of relationships, opportunities and institutions that became stronger because he was involved.

'At this stage of my life, I don't measure success by how many deals I've done, but by the people I've helped, the relationships I've earned, and whether the things I built continue to have value after I'm no longer at the table. That's the legacy I want to leave,' he concludes.