Global family offices typically have at least five percent (5%) of their investment portfolio vested in long-dated, alternative investments, where visibility is lacking and an exit is being impaired by an external party.
Most often known as “legacy assets”, these investments will be challenging for family office principals and investment teams to manage. Across the universe of global family offices, this five percent represents an asset class in its own right. Amid rising interest rates, volatile geopolitics and intergenerational succession, resolving legacy asset issues has become a major priority for leading family offices.
Emissary is a trusted advisor to family offices recovering value from their legacy asset positions. We provide an interdisciplinary team of highly-skilled professionals who help clients understand the nature and condition of their legacy asset positions, map the universe of options to realise value, and execute a clear plan to recovery, markdown or exit.
At the core of our business is the trust that clients place in our judgement and our ability to find actionable pathways to resolution in challenging cases.
Strategies for Legacy Asset Situations
Emissary Partners helps family offices work through legacy asset situations in four steps:
Emissary Partners helps family offices work through legacy asset situations in four steps:
Global Visibility and Corporate Intelligence
We find that family offices often do not know the true or current nature, value or condition of a legacy investment position.
In every case, Emissary helps our clients gain visibility into the investment and its surrounding dynamics.
We find that family offices often do not know the true or current nature, value or condition of a legacy investment position.
In every case, Emissary helps our clients gain visibility into the investment and its surrounding dynamics.
Five Lenses Risk Analysis
An investment committee, board or fiduciary will need to understand five elements of a legacy investment case in order to know how to decide on an optimal resolution. Those five elements are the (i) investigative, (ii) legal, (iii) financial, (iv) geopolitical and (v) reputation. Working alongside legal counsel, Emissary helps to develop a 360-degree understanding of a matter through these Five Lenses.
Those five elements are the (i) investigative, (ii) legal, (iii) financial, (iv) geopolitical and (v) reputation. Working alongside legal counsel, Emissary helps to develop a 360-degree understanding of a matter through these Five Lenses.
An investment committee, board or fiduciary will need to understand five elements of a legacy investment case in order to know how to decide on an optimal resolution.
Those five elements are (i) investigative, (ii) legal, (iii) financial, (iv) geopolitical and (v) reputation. Working alongside legal counsel, Emissary helps to develop a 360-degree understanding of a matter through these Five Lenses.
Expected Value Analysis and Decision Support
In any legacy asset situation, there will be four fundamental pathways to exit: (i) legal action, (ii) secondary sale of interest, (iii) negotiated redemption, and/ or (iv) write off. Emissary helps clients create expected-value frameworks and models to understand the probabilistic outcomes of each exit pathway, the relevant risk factors, and which other choices can help optimise the expected value.
Emissary helps clients create expected-value frameworks and models to understand the probabilistic outcomes of each exit pathway, the relevant risk factors, and which other choices can help optimise the expected value.
In any legacy asset situation, there will be four fundamental pathways to exit: (i) legal action, (ii) secondary sale of interest, (iii) negotiated redemption, and/ or (iv) write off.
Emissary helps clients create expected-value frameworks and models to understand the probabilistic outcomes of each exit pathway, the relevant risk factors, and which other choices can help optimise the expected value.
Exit Strategy Implementation
Emissary helps our clients activate their preferred exit strategies, serving as project manager and helping to coordinate with legal counsel, transaction advisors, and/ or other relevant stakeholders. As required, we will conduct commercial diplomacy to help to encourage amicable discussions and constructive resolutions between parties.
Emissary is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, nor does the work we undertake for our clients constitute accounting, financial, investment, or tax advice.
Emissary helps our clients activate their preferred exit strategies, serving as project manager and helping to coordinate with legal counsel, transactional advisors, and/ or other relevant stakeholders. As required, we will conduct commercial diplomacy to help to encourage amicable discussions and constructive resolutions between parties.
Emissary is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, nor does the work we undertake for our clients constitute accounting, financial, investment, or tax advice.
Our global team brings together leading minds from the fields of family office investment, international dispute resolution, commercial diplomacy, corporate intelligence, litigation funding and insurance, and public affairs.
Our head office is in London, with advisors in Paris, New York City, Miami, and Toronto.
Founder and Managing Director
Senior Advisor
Senior Advisor
Senior Advisor
Senior Advisor
Chief of Staff
Analyst
Analyst
Matthew L. McGrath
Founder and Managing Director
Matthew L. McGrath is Founder and Managing Director of Emissary Partners, a global special situations firm for family offices and institutional investors.
Matt is a trusted advisor to leading family offices across the United States, Europe and the Middle East, as well as financial sponsors investing in litigation funding and special situations. Over a four-year period, Matt has built Emissary into a respected global advisory firm helping family offices manage and exit their challenging legacy asset portfolios, typically comprising five percent of assets under management.
Matt also serves as an advisor to Arena, a New York-based global reputation advisory firm that serves as a sister practice to Emissary.
Matt founded Emissary Partners after nine years at the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG), the global commercial diplomacy firm headquartered in Washington, DC and founded by the late former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.
At ASG, Matt helped clients navigate challenging emerging market environments and held a number of leadership roles, including as co-founder of the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution practice, as chief of staff to the Managing Principal, as head of business development for South Asia, and as a leader of the firm’s offering for private equity clients.
There he advised clients in over 12 sectors and on emerging-market business issues in over 40 different countries and also developed academic partnerships and recruitment programs with leading business schools
Matt began his career in international politics, working in the National Security Affairs Office of then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden at The White House as well as at the U.S. State Department, European Parliament, Democratic National Committee and the Office of the Governor of Massachusetts.
Today, he serves as Vice Chairman of the Harriman Foreign Service Fellowship in Washington, DC, as Co-Chair of the Young Churchillians (next-gen group of the Churchill family’s foundation), and as a member of the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle.
Matt holds a BA from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Oxford Said Business School. He is a regular guest lecturer at Oxford Said Business School on “Nonmarket Strategy for Investment Disputes” and at Queen Mary University of London on “Global Public Affairs Advocacy”.
Full bio hereAdrian Winstanley OBE
Senior Advisor
Adrian Winstanley OBE is a Senior Advisor to Emissary, providing strategic advice on the firm’s management and governance, and brings to bear many years of experience in arbitration and mediation in support of resolution strategies on behalf of the firm’s clients.
Adrian is an English solicitor who served as the Director General of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) for 14 years, where he oversaw hundreds of arbitrations and mediations arising from a wide range of industries and jurisdictions. He also played a pivotal role in the establishment and operation of DIFC-LCIA (Dubai), LCIA-India, and LCIA-MIAC (Mauritius), acquiring valuable insight into commercial arbitration in the Gulf, Asia, and Africa.
Adrian initially joined the LCIA as Registrar in 1997, being appointed Director General in 2000. He served as a member of the LCIA Court for 11 years and on its Board for 15 years. Prior to joining the LCIA, Adrian qualified as an English solicitor at Clifford Chance, following a career in business. Adrian is currently a member of the Panels of Arbitrators of AAA-ICDR, SIAC and Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, and of the Council of Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration. He is also a consultant-advisor to BCDR-AAA, Bahrain, as well as to Dispute Resolution Data.
He has also served on the Board of the International Dispute Resolution Centre, one of the world’s leading arbitration hearing facilities since its foundation in 1999; and previously as Secretary-Treasurer of the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) from 2000 to 2009; and later as a Vice President of IFCAI between 2009 and 2013.
Adrian was awarded the OBE in June 2013 for services to international arbitration.
Tyler Godoff
Senior Advisor
Tyler Godoff is a Senior Advisor to Emissary and general partner of Emerging Founder, which specialises in backing first-time founders and fund managers.
Prior to founding Emerging Founder, Tyler was a vice president at the Fine Line Group, a single-family office within the Bass Companies. At the Fine Line Group, Tyler managed direct and fund venture investments and an early-stage fund that backed founders and ventures with a meaningful connection to Fort Worth.
Earlier in his career, Tyler was a member of the Innovation Strategy group at Barrick, the world’s leading gold mining company. At Barrick, Tyler worked with the chief innovation officer to build partnerships with leading tech companies and early-stage ventures to scale Barrick’s innovation strategy.
In addition, Tyler was part of the team that managed Barrick’s joint-venture relationship with the Shandong Gold Group. Prior to Barrick, Tyler worked on business strategy and product management at two-early-stage ventures in Boston and San Francisco. Upon graduating university, Tyler joined Sinotrans in Beijing as the first foreign new-hire in the company’s 60 year history.
Currently, Tyler is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a mentor for Venture for America. He holds a B.S. in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Yale University.
Dr. Simon King
Senior Advisor
Dr. Simon King is a Senior Advisor to Emissary and the founder of GMTL, a leading business intelligence company. Simon works with Emissary to help investors and corporate decision-makers better understand the sources of their major disputes, thereby enabling better resolution strategies.
Prior to founding GMTL, Simon was a Partner of Hakluyt & Company, a leading London-based intelligence company, where he led the firm’s defence and aerospace practice. He also worked as a government affairs specialist at Accenture and as a strategy consultant at No.10 Downing Street, HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office.
Earlier in his career, Simon spent three years advising the Irish Prime Minister on policy and political strategy.
Simon has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Politics from Trinity College, Dublin, and a PhD from Oxford University. He frequently lectures on the topics of business intelligence, crisis management and geopolitical risk.
Peter Norton
Chief of Staff
Peter Norton is chief of staff, responsible for origination, project execution, and building the firm’s operational systems and processes including technology and data, knowledge management, organisational development and recruitment.
Prior to joining Emissary in 2020, Peter worked in global executive search at Korn Ferry and Sheffield Haworth, and founded his own boutique, SGS Advisory Limited, to serve early-stage companies.
Peter has advised clients on four continents for tier-one banking firms, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, and private-equity-backed ventures. His experience in organisational development includes investment research and strategy, geopolitical risk, global financial markets, technology and operations.
Peter was educated at Eton College.
J. Peter Donald
Senior Advisor
Peter Donald is a senior advisor to Emissary based in New York City. Peter provides insight and expert counsel on issues involving reputation, intelligence and government adjacent fields given Donald’s nearly decade of service to the FBI and NYPD.
Peter Donald is the founder and managing director to Arena, a global advisory firm that builds and protects the reputations of its clients. Donald is a leading public relations professional in New York City with expertise in crisis, reputation management and public affairs. He advises clients in finance, tech, entertainment, aviation, education, in addition to private clients.
Donald previously served as Assistant Police Commissioner for the NYPD, overseeing public affairs. He advised the Police Commissioner and Mayor on reputation and media during three terror attacks and following the appointment of a new commissioner.
Donald was previously the top spokesman for the FBI in New York. Prior to the FBI, Donald worked at a public relations firm in Washington and for John McCain on his presidential campaign. He was selected for PRWeek’s 40 under 40 list and recognized by his alma mater Catholic University and Northfield Mount Hermon. Donald penned an op-ed for the Huffington Post following the Boston Bombing and for the New York Daily News on Senator McCain.
Iulia Chihaia
Analyst
Iulia Chihaia serves as an Analyst with Emissary, responsible for client research, data analysis, asset-tracing and due diligence. Iulia also helps with the firm’s financial administration and provides business development and operational support.
Prior to joining Emissary as an intern in 2022, Iulia completed work experience programmes in the UK and Romania, with leading financial institutions such as JPMorgan, Barclays, and Societe Generale. She was committee chair at the World Trade Organization Conference in Geneva and St. Gallen in 2019, working on lifecycle assessment and labelling standards for products and services.
Iulia holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Management with Finance from Warwick Business School and completed a year-long exchange at the University of St. Gallen (HSG).
Kryspin Janata
Analyst
Kryspin serves as an analyst with Emissary, responsible for client research, data analysis, asset-tracing and due diligence. Kryspin also provides business development and operational support.
Before joining Emissary as an intern in 2021, Kryspin completed several legal internships in the UK and the Czech Republic, with leading firms including Squire Patton Boggs, Baker McKenzie and PRK Partners.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Exeter University, LLM in International Dispute Resolution from a joint course between the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) and the University of Geneva (the MIDS) and a LLM in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution from the National University of Singapore, both studied as a double-degree programme.
Throughout his studies, he primarily focused on commercial and investment arbitration, specifically improving pre-dispute strategy in complex investor-state disputes in the CEE region. During his Legal Practice Course at BPP, he specialised in commercial litigation, private acquisitions and corporate finance.
Since our founding in 2018, we have built a track record of positive impact on behalf of leading investors.
Our client, a US family investment trust, held a minority shareholding in an Asian business through a hedge fund.
The hedge fund manager and majority owner in the Asian business had provided a redemption for the investment, however, was unwilling to supply information on valuation, calling the matter closed.
Following preliminary advice obtained from independent counsel, our client came to us seeking a holistic overview of their circumstances in order to ascertain the best course of action.
Our preliminary estimate confirmed that the value of our client’s investment substantially exceeded the redemption received.
Given the hedge fund’s stance, our recommendation was to conduct in-depth due diligence into the manager and other investors similarly affected, obtain an independent valuation of the investment, understand enforceability of legal pathways, and evaluate the feasibility of settlement.
We provided a holistic view of the case and identified the optimal path to resolution, which included:
Our client was made an insufficient settlement offer, so opted to launch a class action in the Southern District of New York.
Emissary continues to advise on this matter.
Our client had agreed to sell one of its portfolio companies, a UK-based engineering firm, to a Chinese aerospace corporation which had gained access to substantial IP.
The buyer was delaying full payment under the Share Purchase Agreement blaming the holdup on a supposed delay in the approval process for Chinese Outbound Direct Investment (ODI).
As a result of the financial uncertainty on its future, the engineering firm was left in a precarious position and heading towards administration.
We assessed that although the buyer had not met its obligations, any claim under the agreement in the UK courts would not be enforceable against assets in China.
The UK government was concurrently weighing the decision to allow 5G market access to Huawei due to concerns about theft of intellectual property and asset stripping of UK companies.
The strongest leverage against the buyer was therefore to use the timing of the Huawei considerations to escalate the dispute from a private, bilateral commercial negotiation, to an ongoing public, multi-party conversation on UK and Chinese trade relations.
We identified the key stakeholders in the UK and China who might take interest in the case, including Chinese and British stakeholders in government, academia, business, and the press.
We built an advocacy team made up of former senior UK diplomats and business officials specialising in China, the chairman of the engineering company, and our client’s principal.
The advocacy team briefed the Chinese Ministry of Commerce who made internal inquiries and provided insight into the nature of the reported ODI issues.
The advocacy team also briefed relevant UK officials, including members of cabinet and parliamentary leaders, acting as a single point of co-ordination, and increasing speed of delivery.
We also prepared a communications strategy, resulting in a Sunday Times feature, followed by an in-depth report on Chinese asset stripping.
The case was used by members of UK cabinet as a live example of the risks and implications of allowing 5G market access to Huawei.
Our advocacy efforts paved the way for the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee to open an inquiry into asset stripping of British companies by Chinese investors.
Our client was a minority investor in a London-based financial technology venture which, despite positive long-term market prospects, was distressed and experiencing working capital issues.
Our client offered to inject new equity capital into the business in order to acquire a majority interest and extend its runway, which required unanimous approval from all board members.
However, one board member withholding approval of the plan sought to avoid dilution of his existing stake and insisted on repayment of over £500,000 of past advisory work provided to the company, threatening litigation.
With the company approaching insolvency, negotiations for takeover and recapitalisation of the company reached an impasse.
Our client sought strategic advice as to whether they were risking a major litigation with the holdout if they did not meet his demands.
Based on our client’s cap table, we assessed that the holdout was likely to be in a weak position, because his stance was adverse to the interests of both the company’s needs for recapitalisation and the majority shareholders.
We assessed that while the holdout may have had sympathy from the other board members for a lesser pay-out, he might have overplayed his hand by holding the company hostage to his demands.
So, we were most interested to learn whether the holdout would even have the financial capacity to sustain a litigation against our client and to inform a negotiating strategy to deal with his intransigence.
In parallel with the negotiation, we conducted a deep dive into the holdout’s background, assets, and business history, identifying that:
We recommended with high conviction that our client “call the bluff” of the holdout by standing firm on its existing offer to the board and management, and made clear to other influential shareholders that their responsibility to the company was to ensure that the transaction would proceed.
Within a week of insolvency, our client successfully acquired its sought majority shareholding providing the company with cash for its continued operations.
In the face of unilateral pressure from management and board, the holdout conceded his negotiating position, agreed to substantial dilution and received a fractional payment for past advisory services rendered.
Our client, a consortium of leading infrastructure developers, was considering options to launch an arbitration following a breach of contract by a department of a sovereign government.
Ahead of settlement discussions with government representatives, the client sought guidance on its expected financial outcomes in arbitration and at what price it should consider settling the dispute.
We assessed that the consortium should seek to settle the dispute at or above the expected NPV of arbitration, so should therefore conduct a sensitivity analysis of the possible financial outcomes of an arbitration and enforcement.
We generated a comprehensive financial model that took into account all the possible scenarios and risk factors of the adjudication, appeals, and enforcement processes.
Emissary established that the weighted NPV for the client was 6.4% of the headline claim value. This illuminated the sovereign’s leverage in negotiations and promoted the idea of an early settlement.
Our client was assessing a litigation funding opportunity to support a legal action against a counterparty with a set of global financial interests that had largely been structured for obscurity.
The claim concerned a shareholder dispute relating to a US business where the shareholders were global in their citizenship and activities.
With an investment decision deadline one month away, our client’s investment committee wanted comfort regarding whether a UK judgement would be enforceable both in terms of quantum and jurisdiction of assets.
Counsel also sought an assessment of the ultimate beneficial ownership of the asset in dispute, as the counterparty’s actual level of ownership would affect how the case should be plead.
We assessed that, because of the asset obfuscation efforts taken by the counterparty, our client would never gain 100% visibility into the counterparty’s global asset position within the required timeframe.
Our analysis would therefore need to be rendered on a portfolio “expected value” basis, assessing value of illiquid assets and discounting identified assets based on confidence in ownership and jurisdictional enforcement risks.
This headline figure would provide a clearer underwriting basis for the claim.
We put together a project “sprint” that included three methods of intelligence in short succession.
We traced the counterparty’s ownership structure of the asset in dispute across 20+ entities in 10 jurisdictions.
We ran a financial sensitivity analysis on real estate assets to estimate current valuations and levels of mortgage.
Our findings included confirmation of a majority control of the asset in dispute as well as sufficient enforceable hard assets on an expected and discounted basis.
Our client’s investment committee approved the investment unanimously.
The claimholder agreed on pricing aligned to the expectations of enforcement.
We are called on frequently to comment on issues concerning global family offices, geopolitics and dispute resolution, and maintain partnerships with leading investor groups and academic institutions.
Emissary Partners
Emissary Holdings Ltd
29 Farm Street
London W1J 5RL
If you are interested to join our team, please get in touch via careers@emissarypartners.com