Independent reliable advice bringing pragmatic solutions.
Founded in 2008 by senior bankers who wanted independent advice back at the centre of project finance. $60bn+ advised across six sectors and 48 countries.
Built by senior bankers, evolving with changing market conditions.
After the global financial crisis, three senior project-finance bankers reached the same conclusion. Bank balance sheets had shrunk, teams had been reduced, and the people who most needed independent, senior counsel on how actually to finance a project could no longer count on getting it from a single large bank.
Between them, Nick, Geoff and Frauke had spent decades running some of the largest financings in the market — mandates across every continent in a wide range of sectors. They knew that the sharpest advice sat at the intersection of two perspectives that were rarely combined at boutique level: how sponsors need a deal to work, and how lenders need it to underwrite.
So they built Portland Advisers to be exactly what they wished had existed. Focussed enough that every mandate is led personally by a senior consultant from the start to financial close. Independent enough that the advice is shaped only by what's right for the clients and the transaction. Deep enough that clients — sponsors and lenders alike — get counsel from people who have already sat in every seat around the table.
Close to two decades on, that founding proposition is the product.
What clients keep telling us they engaged us for.
Senior-led delivery
Every mandate is led personally by a senior consultant. Clients engage with decision-makers, not intermediaries — from the first meeting through to close.
True independence
No balance sheet, no cross-selling, no conflicts of interest. Our advice is shaped solely by what's right for the client and the transaction.
Client integration
We embed with your team through diligence, documentation and financial close. Regular, clear, direct communication — never a black box.
Market intelligence
Our continuous engagement with commercial banks, ECAs and DFIs gives clients an edge — knowing what will underwrite, and what won't, before you commit.
“The need for independent advice has never been greater. As financial markets have become more regulated, risk is managed with greater scrutiny and structures are more complex. That is precisely why we built Portland. We find solutions that work for all parties.”
Marker deals from the first decade.
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2008
Portland Advisers founded in London
Nick, Geoff and Frauke open the doors at their first office on Great Portland Street.
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2009
Barka 3 / Sohar 2 — US$1.35bn
Financial advisor to GDF Suez (now Engie) on the US$1.35bn debt financings for two 750MW gas-fired CCGT IPPs at Barka and Sohar in the Sultanate of Oman.
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2010
O3b Networks · US$1bn
Financial advisor to the borrower, O3b — a landmark, award-winning project financing for a new satellite constellation sponsored by SES, Liberty Global and Google amongst others. Telecom Deal of the Year, PFI.
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2011
Reficar — US$5.7bn
Financial Advisor to US-EXIM on the US$5.7bn expansion and upgrade of the Reficar oil refinery in Colombia sponsored by Ecopetrol.
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2013
Amos 6 Satellite — US$350m
Financial advisor to US Ex-Im for this communications satellite.
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2014
Wa'ad Al Shamal · US$10bn
Financial advisor on the Saudi Arabian phosphate and fertiliser complex — one of the largest single project financings of its era.
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2015
North East Batch Schools — US$135m
Financial advisor to Galliford Try for the first scheme under the UK Government's Priority School Building Programme to achieve financial close. Gold Award for Best Education Project, Partnerships Bulletin Awards 2016.
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2016
Seabras-1 · US$520m
First ECA-backed project financing of a subsea cable in the 160-year history of global telecommunications. Four awards, including Latin Finance Project & Infrastructure Finance Award.
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2017
Coral South FLNG · US$8.6bn
First floating LNG project ever project-financed. Africa Oil & Gas Deal of the Year, PFI.
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2023
Unique Meghnaghat Power — US$613m
Financial advisor to SERV on the US$460m debt financing for the 588MW UMPL CCGT power project in Bangladesh.
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2025
Vulcan Energy · US$2.2bn
ECA adviser on Europe's flagship zero-carbon lithium project. European Transition Deal of the Year, PFI.
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Today
140+ closed mandates. Six sectors. 48 countries.
Currently advising US EXIM on the US$2.7bn limited-recourse financing for the Stibnite Gold Mine in Idaho — the first case study of the next chapter.
Recent work.
A handful of the financings we're proudest of — the structuring complexity, not the headline value, is usually what makes them worth reading.
All case studies
Vulcan Energy Resources
Portland acted as ECA Advisor to Bpifrance, SACE and EIFO on the c. US$1.1bn limited-recourse senior debt financing for the Vulcan integrated renewable energy and Zero Carbon Lithium™ Project in Germany.
Mazoon Copper
Portland acted as Co-Financial Advisor to Minerals Development Oman on a US$550m greenfield copper and gold mining project in northern Oman.
Unique Meghnaghat Power
Portland acted as Financial Advisor to SERV on the US$460m debt financing for the 588MW UMPL CCGT power project in Bangladesh.
Senior on every seat.
Portland's advisors have led financings at HSBC, KPMG, Macquarie, Standard Bank, IFC, Chase Manhattan and a spread of ECAs and DFIs. Every mandate has a senior Portland consultant in the room.
See the partnersDeep specialism in the asset classes that underpin economies.
Renewables & Energy Transition, Infrastructure, Energy, Mining, and Digital Infrastructure. We don't do everything — we do the complex, capital-intensive financings we were built for.
Explore sectorsThe clear argument for a boutique.
Since the global financial crisis, bank lending capacity has had greater scrutiny and terms have tightened. Financings now sit inside 400-page facility agreements, layered with ECA cover, DFI participation and multi-currency tranches.
That world rewards a specific kind of financial advisor: one who lives inside the detail of the structure, has no product to cross-sell, and has been the person in the seat opposite before. The pragmatic pro-active kind. The kind who can tell a client what the other side can actually accept, where the client can push and where pushing a point will not succeed — not because a market note says so, but because they've written that credit/investment memo themselves.
That's the Portland proposition. Advisory boutique. Senior dedicated team. No cross-selling of products. No conflicts. The people you engage are the people who do the work.