Structured Finance Advisory
AAL helps clients design, refine and stress-test financing structures before they are exposed to lenders, investors, strategic partners or complex counterparties. The goal is not cosmetic presentation. The goal is a structure that survives serious diligence.
The Problem
Projects often enter financing discussions with a story that sounds compelling but a structure that is incomplete. Common weaknesses include unclear risk allocation, unrealistic sequencing, unresolved jurisdictional issues, weak documentation logic or a capital approach that does not match the project’s stage and risk profile.
Instrument Types & Transaction Contexts
A significant portion of AAL’s structured finance advisory work involves instrument-backed transactions where the instrument itself — and the claims made about it — must be independently assessed before any commitment is made. AAL advises on the following instrument types and associated transaction structures:
Assessment of issuance logic, verifiability, proposed monetisation structures, sequencing discipline and counterparty risk. AAL reviews the commercial and procedural integrity of SBLC-backed proposals before a client accepts any issuance, delivery, verification or monetisation sequence.
Structuring, SWIFT message sequencing (MT799 pre-advice, MT760 issuance), issuing bank assessment and procedural compliance. AAL identifies sequencing errors and documentation gaps before they become transaction failures.
Transaction-structure and ownership-claim assessment, programme-document review and fraud screening. AAL evaluates whether the stated issuer, holder, custody position, settlement route and proposed mechanics can withstand verification.
Commercial review of DOA terms, MT103 payment sequencing, procedure compliance and counterparty obligation logic. AAL reviews DOAs for internal consistency and alignment with stated transaction objectives.
Red flag advisory: AAL has direct experience in structured finance contexts where instrument fraud is the material risk — including fabricated SWIFT messages, misrepresented issuing banks, advance fee payment demands disguised as procedural requirements, and instruments that cannot withstand even basic verification. In the past twelve months alone, files reviewed by AAL have included fabricated SWIFT confirmations attributed to two global banks, an MTN programme whose claimed owner did not exist, and a standby letter of credit whose issuing officer had left the named bank three years earlier. None survived first-pass verification. Where a proposed transaction involves instrument claims that have not been independently verified, counterparties without traceable institutional relationships, or payment requests ahead of instrument delivery, scope a due diligence review before proceeding.
Scope boundary: AAL provides strategic, commercial and due-diligence advisory only. AAL does not act as a broker-dealer, placement agent, lender, asset manager or regulated investment adviser; does not arrange instrument monetisation or capital raising; and does not buy, sell, place, custody or execute transactions in financial instruments.
What We Review
Debt, equity, hybrid, collateral, milestone, repayment and risk-allocation logic.
What must happen first, what should wait, and where the deal can break if the order is wrong.
How the mandate will be viewed by lenders, investors, development partners and commercial counterparties.
Commercial review of key terms, information gaps and consistency between transaction documents.
How an Engagement Runs
01
Project, parties, jurisdictions, financing target and prior transaction history.
02
Stress-test the proposed financing logic against market and execution realities.
03
Identify missing documents, unresolved risks and weak commercial assumptions.
04
Recommend sequencing, counterparty-review priorities and communication steps.
05
Support the mandate as parties, documents and timing evolve.
Best Fit
Confidential Mandate Review
Bring us the transaction before you bring it to a lender. We will tell you where it holds and where it does not.
