Engagement
How an approach proceeds.
Most readers of this page hold a first document from us already. This is the protocol behind it: what each stage discloses, what we ask before the next one opens, and why the sequence protects both sides of the table.
01 · The five stages
The protocol
Disclosure is staged because value is.
An introduction from this practice moves through five stages. Each one discloses more and asks more, in that order, and the reader can locate their own position on the list.
- 01 Introduction and first document A direct approach from the principal, carrying a document that names the shape of an opportunity and none of its coordinates.
- 02 Mutual confidentiality A short agreement, signed both ways, before anything identifying moves. We sign what we ask you to sign.
- 03 The full file The identified position with its documentary record: title, approvals, appraisal, risks, structure and the mandate sought. Organised by the Eight Gates.
- 04 Verification, yours and parallel Your counsel and advisers test the file. We expect parallel diligence and we say where to point it.
- 05 Exclusivity and heads of terms A dated window, a condition-precedent schedule, and the gate sequence begins. When a window lapses, it lapses. The file closes.
03 · Signature before detail
Stage two
Paper comes before detail, in both directions.
The confidentiality agreement is short, mutual, and unremarkable. It covers the identity of land and parties, the documents that follow, and the economics discussed. It does not restrain your freedom to decline, to pursue other opportunities, or to run your own advisers over everything we hand you. We expect all three.
It binds us the same way. What we learn of your capital, your strategy and your committee's reasoning stays with the principal. A practice that trades in information it was shown in confidence has priced itself precisely, and everyone in the market eventually reads the price.
04 · The full file
Stage three
What signature opens.
The full file identifies the position and carries its documentary record. It is organised by the Eight Gates, so your committee reads it in the order capital meets the decisions.
- The position
Plot identification, extent, control status and the holder's standing. What is held, by whom, under what instrument.
- Title record
The chain summary, the encumbrance position, the revenue records under their state names, and the qualifications of the title opinion set out rather than buried.
- Approvals register
What is held, what is applied for, what has lapsed, what is conditional. Dated, with the owning authority against each entry.
- Appraisal
The development appraisal with its assumptions register, sensitivity on the variables that move the answer, and evidence separated from judgement.
- Risk schedule
Red-amber-green, monetised, with the residual-risk statement naming what stays open and what it costs if it lands.
- Structure and mandate
The entry structure intended, the exit test it is built against, and the mandate this practice would hold. Terms follow in the appointment pack, not on a website.
05 · The verification we invite
Stage four
Check us at source. We built for the check.
Nothing in an introduction from this practice asks to be taken on trust. The company is verifiable at the UK companies registry under number 16277213, and the rest of the counterparty file is published on this site before anyone asks. The land records behind a position are public instruments in their states, and the full file names which record answers which question. The delivery regulator's registers are public, and we tell you what to look up.
Bring your own counsel. Run parallel diligence. A position that survives only our own reading is not a position we want our name on, and the fastest way to find out is to let you test it.
06 · The boundary
What an introduction is
We introduce projects and mandates. Never investment products.
An approach from this practice concerns a real asset and the professional mandate to deliver it. We do not pool capital, promote vehicles, arrange securities or take success fees for placing money. Where a structure requires regulated services, they come from the regulated advisers on your side of the table, and we work beside them.
The boundary is not modesty. It is what keeps our judgement saleable. A firm paid for the deal happening cannot be paid for saying stop, and saying stop is most of what capital buys from us.
If you hold a first document now, the next step is a signature and a fuller conversation. Both move at your pace, not ours.
07 · Questions we expect
Asked, and answered here
The questions a serious reader asks, answered before the meeting.
- Can we speak to references?
Ask in the room, and expect a straight account of what exists and what does not. The public record we volunteer is stronger than curated praise: dated positions you can test against the market, a published method you can hold our files to, and registries you can check without our permission. References vouch. Records prove.
- Who else sees the file?
Nobody. One position travels to one counterparty at a time, under a dated window. When your window is open, the file is yours alone, and when it lapses, it closes rather than circulates.
- What if our counsel disagrees with yours?
Then the file improves. The structure memorandum records the routes rejected and why, precisely so a disagreement lands on reasons rather than positions. We have no pride invested in a route, only in the exit it must survive.
- Do you invest alongside us?
No. Alignment here comes from fee, reputation and repeat mandate, never from a stake, because a firm that holds a position in the deal cannot verify the deal. The refusal is the alignment.
- How fast can this move?
As fast as the gates close properly, and no faster. Skipped gates do not save time; they move the delay to a later date and price it up. What we do promise is that no gate waits on us: the file, the counsel and the counterparty are marshalled so the decision is always yours to take.
Enquiries
The practice answers.
128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX
The development practice is led by Tanishq Chauhan. Correspondence reaches the principal directly.
Tanishq Chauhan on LinkedIn, opens in a new tab
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