What does Abel Martins Alexandre do?

He works with boards and management teams on strategic finance: getting a capital raise executed well, restarting value creation when it has stalled, and supporting the decisions a board faces around acquisitions, portfolio and capital allocation. The work spans thirty years of finance, commercial and strategy leadership in natural resources, capex intensive industry and banking.

When do clients call him?

Three moments come up most often. An efficient and timely capital raise, whether that is an IPO, an equity round, debt financing, project finance or a refinancing. Value creation that has stalled, in working capital, the cost base, performance management or the finance function itself. And a board facing a strategic decision on an acquisition, an integration or separation, a portfolio review, capital allocation or governance.

What scale of transactions has he executed?

Around 100 financing transactions negotiated, structured and executed, mostly in the 100 million to 1 billion dollar range, with higher underwriting capacity. IPOs up to 350 million dollars, one programme raised at 25 billion dollars across equity and debt, and 40 billion dollars of M&A and divestments led.

What does an engagement look like?

Five shapes. A finance function diagnostic as the entry point, delivered as findings and recommendations and modelled on a 100 day observation report. A project mandate on a specific transaction. A performance mandate on working capital, cost or performance management. A fractional or interim CFO seat for a defined period. And board or audit committee advisory as a retainer, held separately from advice to management.

Which sectors and geographies does he work in?

Natural resources and mining, capex intensive industry, listed small and mid caps, and private equity, infrastructure funds and family offices. Mandates across the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan and the United States.

How does he work with a management team?

By understanding the strategy and business model first, then assessing whether the capital structure supports it, identifying where value leaks, building the delivery plan with ownership against every action, executing alongside the CEO, CFO or Chief Transformation Officer rather than handing over a report, and embedding the governance and operating model that holds the gain in place.

Strategic finance & board advisory

Strategic finance for sustained value creation.

A board approves an IPO, a refinancing or an acquisition. Each needs sharp execution and a plan to capture the value intended. Nobody inside has done it before?

I did, from every seat around the table.

A transformation is required to sustainably improve financial performance, both operationally and functionally?

Change and discipline are muscles I have developed and applied effectively through experience, judgement and toolkits.

Book a discovery call When clients call me

Group-level mandates at

Abel Martins Alexandre

Strategic finance & board advisory · London

01 - Background

Senior finance leadership, grounded in the discipline of value creation.

Finance, commercial and strategy leadership across 30 years in natural resources, capex-intensive industries and banking, with expertise on:

-Capital allocation, capital structure, investment thesis

-Many transactions across the entire capital stack, incl. equity and debt capital markets, and structured and project finance

-Performance improvement and value creation programmes

Rio Tinto

-Led the commercial and funding structure of a $25bn iron ore and infrastructure project

-Set up a trading desk and restructured Treasury

-Led working capital optimisation and cost reduction programmes

Lloyds CIB

-Created a new team across capex-intensive industries - energy & commodities, power & utilities, manufacturing & industrials, infrastructure & transport

-Grew the franchise across geographies and the full product spectrum, with direct accountability for large corporate clients

Natixis

-Led the implementation of the commercial banking franchise in Southern Africa

-Developed the business case and led the implementation of a new Mining Finance practice

Eramet

-Right hand to the incoming CEO on the turnaround plan and a strategic review of the business

02 - Credentials

~100

Financing transactions negotiated, structured and executed

$40bn

M&A and divestments led

$25bn

Largest project and investment programme, equity and debt

$3.5bn

Cost reduction programmes

Capital markets & financing

~100 financing transactions negotiated, structured and executed

Project finance, structured financing, securitisations

$100m - $1bn range, and higher in underwriting capacity

IPOs up to $350m · Series A/B/C

A $25bn programme raised across equity and debt

M&A

$40bn of M&A and divestments

Created a Finance & Transaction Advisory team for forensic transaction review

Created an Integration & Divestment team for synergy capture and carve-out

Performance improvement

Working capital optimisation programmes of $4-6bn

Cost reduction programmes of $2.5-3.5bn

Reorganisation of finance and treasury functions and reporting

Strategy & transformation

Review of sales & marketing and procurement, creating a Commercial division in Singapore

Review of trading activities and implementation of a trading desk

Implementation of new operating models

Sectors & capital

Natural resources & mining Capex-intensive industry Listed small & mid-caps PE, infrastructure funds & family offices

Geographies

United Kingdom France Saudi Arabia UAE Singapore Japan United States

03 - When to call

Efficient and timely capital raise

IPO

Equity raise (series A/B/C/etc, private capital, PIPE, secondary offering, SPAC)

Debt financing, including private credit

Project finance and complex structures

Refinancing and restructuring

When value creation has stalled

Working capital and cash generation

Cost base and sustained reduction

Performance management and ownership

Finance-function transformation

Operating-model redesign

When the board faces a strategic decision

Acquisition, integration, separation

Portfolio review

Capital allocation, structure and discipline

Independent board opinion

Governance and operating model

04 - Selected work

M&A

A multi-year M&A and divestment programme with no in-house M&A practice

Situation

The business engaged in successive acquisitions and divestments without the institutional memory or internal expertise to carry due diligence, plan integration and separation, extract synergies or mitigate carve-out costs.

Intervention

Built playbooks and checklists letting the business plug in proven M&A practice and write thorough integration and separation plans well ahead of closing - cutting reliance on external advisers, value leakage and post-transaction liabilities.

Outcome

-Total $15bn divestment programme

-Avoided value leakage of more than $100m

Performance

A cost reduction programme that hits its target and unwinds by year-end

Situation

After a significant build-up of support costs, a top-down initiative delivered its reduction target for the end of the reporting year - and costs immediately started creeping back up.

Intervention

Rather than looking at cost in isolation, redesigned the operating model - end-to-end processes and performance management for the functions - supporting a sustained reduction and a culture of continuous efficiency.

Outcome

-$3.5bn cost reduction programme

Performance

Working capital initiatives aimed at year-end results rather than constant optimisation

Situation

A group-wide working capital reduction exercise delivered its free-cash-flow release target, but the reduction did not survive past the end of the reporting year.

Intervention

Built the performance-management architecture - tools, processes and drumbeat - creating the discipline and ownership needed to optimise working capital continuously.

Outcome

-Working capital reduced from $6bn to $4.2bn

Finance function

A finance function where reporting culture had displaced value creation

Situation

An FP&A team spending most of its time producing backward-looking reports, reactive in the support it offered the business.

Intervention

Drastically simplified management reporting, improved the driver-based forecast, and implemented value driver trees.

Outcome

-Estimated potential cost reduction of more than 25%, with improved business insight

Capital raise

A fast-growing start-up needing to secure capital with limited finance capability

Situation

A cleantech business with a successful pilot needed a credible business plan and financial model for investors, plus the foundations of sound financial practice.

Intervention

Sharpened the equity story on the back of commercial due diligence and rebuilt the financial modelling to meet investor scrutiny - successful Series A and B.

Outcome

-$35m raised for a cleantech business

Client-identifying detail is abstracted to sector and scale, never dropped.

05 - Operating principles

Convictions that guide every engagement.

01 A relentless drive on value creation.

02 The value is in the process and the discipline.

03 Sustainable performance matters more than one-off successes.

04 Finance does not solve for strategy, but poor financing decisions make strategy redundant.

05 Execute transactions and plans with speed, rigour and data.

06 Sound governance and efficient operating models improve value.

06 - The operating system

Understand the strategy and business model

The two or three deliberate choices the business has made - and whether they are clear to everyone.

Assess the capital structure

How efficiently the capital structure supports the strategy.

Identify where value leaks

Pricing with clients and suppliers, working capital, cost structure, pricing of risk, integration and carve-out leakage.

Build the strategy delivery plan

The winning code of transformation: target setting, ownership, and a drumbeat of execution.

Execute alongside management

Senior reinforcement next to the CEO, CFO or Chief Transformation Officer - not a report handed over.

Embed governance and the operating model

Aligned with sustained strategy delivery and with the specific transformation or transaction.

07 - How to engage

Examples of mandates I run.

Finance-function diagnostic

A structured review delivered as findings and recommendations, modelled on a 100-day observation report. Billed standalone or as the opening days of an engagement.

ENTRY POINT

Project mandate

IPO, equity or debt raise, restructuring, securitisation, project financing, SPAC. From a punctual intervention to 12-24 months on a project financing.

PROJECT

Performance mandate

Working capital, cost reduction, performance-management build, post-acquisition reorganisation. Best fit above roughly $1bn revenue, or on fund-owned assets.

PROGRAMME

Fractional or interim CFO

Sitting in the seat for a defined period - through a transaction, a transition, or while the permanent hire is found.

IN SEAT

Board / audit-committee advisory

An independent opinion, held separately from advice to management. A retainer relationship with people who already know the work.

RETAINER

Next step

Book a discovery call